“Whose bright idea was this anyway?”
I huffed and puffed as we
scrambled the last few metres up the
rocky hill to the Noon Gun.
Yes, I have to admit it was mine
and it seemed like a jolly good one at
the time. That was before I realised
the last bit up Longmarket Street
was about a 45 degree angle and the
chosen day was an almost windless
sweltering 30°C.
Ursula Stevens of Wanderlust
does wonderful guided walks
around the city centre and into the
Bo-Kaap, and we’ve strolled the
streets together many times in the
past. There’s always something new
and interesting to learn about Cape
Town’s history and culture as you
visit the Grand Parade, Church
Square, the Company’s Garden, St
George’s Cathedral and ultimately
the Bo-Kaap with its rich heritage
and colourful houses.
Stevens’s tour does not go as high
as the Noon Gun, ending at the
Tana Baru cemetery, but as a special
favour I asked her to accompany me
even further up the hill this week.
We started on Church Square
where you can see the slave stones
memorial, and if that moves you to
learn more, the Slave Lodge
museum is just across the road and
at the Social History Centre, also
right there, they will help you
research your ancestral roots.
While you’re in the area, do pop
in to 6 Spin Street where you’ll find
a bookshop, a restaurant owned by
Robert Mulder formerly of Rozenhof
(and Cape Town residents
should be thrilled to learn they can
get the famous cheese souffle there
– me, I did a happy dance on the
spot), and a delightfully quirky artwork
by Ed Young.
You cannot help but smile at the
life size and very life-like model of
former Archbishop Desmond Tutu
flying from the crystal chandelier,
which really does capture the man’s
playful spirit. le.
From Church Square we popped
in at the Crypt alongside St George’s
Cathedral where you can peruse the
small exhibition commemorating
the 1989 peace march organised by
Tutu, which is a nice touch of synchronicity.
There’s also a cafe and
being a crypt and all, it’s deliciously
cool on a hot day.
Hugging the shady side of the
streets we zig-zagged our way up
through the Bo-Kaap.
“It is a multicultural area, tucked
safely into the fold of Signal Hill,”
says www.bokaap.co.za a website
updated by people who live, or have
lived there.
“Use the cobble stoned streets as
your guide and you will be lead into
a lively suburb filled with brightly
coloured houses from the nineteenth
and seventeenth century,
Muslim saints shrines (“kramats”)
and many beautiful mosques including
the first established Muslim
mosque in South Africa.”
Stevens is very knowledgeable
about the area and will give you a
running commentary about the
mosques and other buildings, in
English and/or German. From my
personal experience I can tell you
Rocksole is THE place to have your
shoes fixed, the koeksusters from
Rose Corner Cafe first thing on a
Sunday morning are the bomb, and
Atlas Trading is spice heaven.
Our pre-destination was the
Noon Gun Tea Room at the top of
Longmarket Street. I cannot overstate
enough that it is steep. The
kind of steep that when you look up
the road from the bottom you immediately
start looking for the phone
number for a taxi cab, and most sensible
people would be going up there
by car anyway. But there was no
backing down.
The reward was a small platter of
nibblies – samoosa, dahltjie and
koeksuster – at the restaurant, and
more ice cold water. Being a Muslim
establishment there is no alcohol.
The last leg of the journey was
through the bushes and stony
ground to sneak up on the Noon
Gun from behind. There is normal
access by road from the other side,
but where’s the fun in that? The
daily firing of the cannon is one of
our quainter rituals here in Cape
Town. It’s a tradition that harks
back to the old days when a signal
cannon would be fired as part of a
system spreading quite far inland to
alert farmers that ships were coming
into the harbour and they
should get in their wagons to come
trade. For more information see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon
_Gun.
These days the gun is fired from
an automatic signal from the Astronomical
Observatory in, yes you
guessed it, Observatory and before
the firing you get a short informative
talk from one of the naval officers
who are charged (sorry) with
the duty of filling the back up cannon
with 1.5kg of gunpowder.
They chase you to a safe distance
before the countdown to a very satisfying
boom.
.Wanderlust walking tours weekdays
at 11am and Saturdays at 10am,
about two and a half hours, cost
R150, children under 14 free. For
more information call 021 462 4252 or
021 712 6365 or go to www.wanderlust.
co.za
Contact Escape Times