Apartheid and Cape Town

(Elke) We spent another day in Cape Town. But in no way, this day was similar to the one of yesterday. This makes this trip really interesting. Today was dedicated to the battle for freedom after the Apartheid regime. This morning we visited District Six. At the moment there is not much to see over there, but the museum was worth a visit and tells again the bad stories of the Apartheid. After that, we went to the black township of Langa. The tour we did there was much less touristic compared to Soweto. To see this poverty always remains a shocking experience. This time we were mainly touched by the hostels where so many people live together in unbearable conditions.
After this, time for a change. We went higher up in the city to Bookaap. This part of Cape Town really looks like a postcard. The houses are extremely colourful. The ideal time to take some pictures again....

Our main goal of today was to see the Robben Island. This morning with the fog on the island, we were afraid we would have not managed. However, things got better. We have done the tour of the island. The good thing of these tours is that they are all conducted by ex prisoners. We have not seen the cell of Mandela itself, because they were doing renovation works in the building. A pity. However, we got quite a good idea of how much the present political leaders of this country have suffered there in the past.

By the way, today is the 89th birthday of Nelson Mandela. In a country with great respect for this man, this does not pass by unnoticed. Here in Cape Town they organise a football match of the African 11 against the Rest of the World 11. By coincidence, we got to the port to Robben Island at the moment the football stars got back from their visit to Robben Island. We only recognised a few like Gullit, Rijkaard and Carembeu but the African people really got excited.

(Francesco) This time I simply leave an hello to everybody .... we have few minutes before leaving for dinner and watching the football (maybe) !!!