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By all rights, Cape Town should be under water.Has anyone told you that the front two kilometres of modern skyscrapers buttressing the Mother City’s CBD are where the sea used to be, once upon a time?
In keeping with the Promethean ideals of the Dutch corporation we were born from, the city and the Union government in the 1930’s and 40’s set out to fight a war against the waves, and ended up winning a Pyrrhic victory.
Out of a graveyard of centuries of shipwrecks we built a modern monumental landscape to meet the demands of the 20th Century, and lost our humanity in the process. Today it seems as difficult to imagine a future, fairer Cape Town as it is to cast our minds back to a time when Table Bay was more of a cove than a catastrophe. But that won’t stop us from trying.
This Saturday at 14h00 I want to invite you on an unprecedented historical walk along the original 19th-Century shoreline of the city, outlining the dreams, memories, nightmares and fantasies that brought us to the weirdness we live in. Starting from the great grain elevator we just re-invented as a Modern Art Museum and ending by the oldest train in Africa behind glass in the middle of today’s station, in two hours we will accomplish the improbable by pedestrianising a landscape constructed for human beings that will never exist.
Along the way we’ll trace the remnants of a buried world of dockside brothels and pubs, crowded noxious fish markets, districts of long-demolished cinemas, boulevards still named for forgotten Nazis, and mausoleums of the high Apartheid era that show off a complementary layer of madness to the history we just escaped from. Today’s Cape Town is still building into the sea and still struggling to keep track of its citizens, and the Foreshore remains its prime battlefield.
Come join our newest adventure by booking at the Quicket Link below for just R120pp or via DM on 076 033 8164 or [email protected].
There are so few outings like ours and none explicitly designed for locals and wannabe locals to equally enjoy!
Remember your questions, comfortable shoes, water, sun hats and your childlike curiosity for the past and the future!
Yours,
Cameron of CTHT.
P.S. If you've read this far I'm guessing you'll want even more of the specs, so here goes:
- We'll be starting by the entrance to Zeitz MOCAA and finishing in the middle of Cape Town Station just over two hours later so you can do a two-car system or take the MyCiTi bus back to the Waterfront with me from Adderley station.
- We used to be donation-based but to secure our future we're now doing a pre-booking system whereby you can guarantee your tickets beforehand at R120pp, or you can join the tour on the day for R150pp in cash or EFT et al. Simply WhatsApp on 076 033 8164 or Message us via the buttons on our home page to secure your place.
- This is a consistently well-reviewed heritage-focused walking tour; which is to say that all you'll need to enjoy yourself is curiosity about Cape Town's past (and History in general) and enough stamina to walk just less than 4km in one afternoon (with stops and snacks).
- If you're rejoining us, please please please please please please consider dropping us a short (or extensive) review on our Facebook Reviews or Google Reviews section as it will help spread our gospel of curiosity and playful appreciation across the internet and across the spectrum of all potential visitors to the Cape. It helps us more than you can believe!
- We've also introduced an optional R10 donation on your ticket which will go directly to the NGO Streetscapes as part of our mission to spread love, enthusiasm, mutual support and respect for all of Cape Town's people and histories. Just think how many people we could help and the difference we could make with a few hundred tours!
- Feel absolutely free to spread the word, invite friends who've been looking for this kind of experience and badger us with every imaginable heritage query. We live for it!
Can't wait to meet ya, really!
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Zeitz MOCAA, Zeitz Mocaa, Re/173714 Silo Sq, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa
Tickets
