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On Saturday we're doing the Company Gardens but on Sunday, the freshly restored Long Street Baths will provide the perfect excuse and introduction to explore our hibernating hangover strip, on the brink of too many changes and nigh-on unrecognisability, but while the shops and bars on Cape Town's most notorious street swap out from year to year, the facades and the foundations are somehow still with us after a century and change!So, following closely Desmond Martin's remarkable guide 'Walking Long Street', I propose you join my curious posse this Sunday afternoon from 14h00 to 16h00 to finally, belatedly get around to appreciating one of the greatest continuous city-length heritage sites in the entire Global South.
That's not an overstatement! Unlike it's poor sisters Adderley and Buitenkant, Long Street still requires only a bystander's imagination to effect a triptastic time-travel experience as you angle your eyes to enjoy the ornate gables, impasto colours and imperial detritus from the strangest decades of an evaporating century.
From colonial embassy lodges, to semi-ancient mosques, to the loveable Turkish Dive-Baths, to pioneering concept hotels, scattered indie coffee roasters, septuagenarian Africana bookshops and the oldest elevator in South Africa, the fabric and texture of the Mother City in the Modern Day is nowhere else more self-evident nor more gorgeously ageing than along the looped strip of CBD mansions between Orange and Strand.
So feel free to jump aboard the strolling rundown at any point, just so long as you bring water, cameras, questions, patience, a tightened bladder, friends, interest in the city you find yourself in, and added tips! (If you're so inclined)
RSVP and much love just for reading this far anyway!
Yours,
Cameron the Permanent Tourist x
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 and finishing by the Long Street Pool/Turkish Baths, so happily park in Kloof or Keerom Street or (lord forbid) take the MyCiTi bus the whole day to everywhere.
- 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 R100pp, or you can join the tour on the day for R150pp in cash or EFT et al. If you are only a temporary Capetonian, the prices go up by R100, but if you write me a review afterwards or argue successfully that we're all technically temporary Capetonians, I might waive the tariff... Regardless, 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 3km 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, TripAdvisor 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
Long Street Baths & Turkish Steam Bath, 8A Dean St, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa,Cape Town, Western Cape
