Cape Town

Cape Town's city centre lies cradled in a vast blue-grey amphitheatre formed by Table Mountain. Lion's Head and Devil's Peak. Visible 200km out to sea, this magestic bowl of mountains has for centuries lifted the spirits of weary seafarers who sailed into the 'Tavern of the Seas' to replenish their supplies after gruelling months at sea.

Few cities in the world can boast a more spectacular setting than the historic Mother City, and it is certainly unrivalled in South Africa for its cosmopolitan ambience redolent with history.

In its three and a half centuries the city has transformed itself from a remote colonial outpost to one of Africa's most important cities. This teeming metropolis is a mjor commercial, financial and industrial centre and one of the southern hemisphere's premier ports for container shipping and the export of fruit.

Skyscrapers and freeways have radically altered the face of Cape Town over the past decades or so, yet the city remains steeped in history, its gracious buildings, cobbled streets and monuments providing a fasscinating insight into the romantic history of the city and of the cultures that shaped it.

Inevitably a cursory review of a city such as Cape Town must be highly selective if not eclectic.