Cape Town is the most beautiful city on the continent. It guards the great Cape of Good Hope, the treacherous meeting of the world’s coldest ocean, the Atlantic, with its warmest, the Indian. The city today lies on the northwestern side of the Cape Peninsula on the Atlantic, and about 10 miles north of the great bay that provided harbor and respite to so many early sailing vessels. It was likely settled before the 17th century by wayward sailors and pirates, but it was the Dutch who formally claimed this precious territory in 1652.

Throughout its turbulent political history the city has continued to blossom, benefitting from a near ideal climate year-round, rich agricultural land that produces some of the finest wines on earth, and a melting pot of cultures that has created one of the most dynamic communities on the planet, usually progressive but often detached from the actual political wrangling.

Cape Town’s principal attractions center around the Waterfront and Table Mountain. Table Mountain was the sentinel of sailors since the earliest times, and today a cable car ride to the top if allowed by very finicky days of intense fog, is one of the real treats of a visit to South Africa. The mountain -- like so much of the Cape peninsula -- has a unique ecology often distinguished by its fynbos plants, the most famous of which are the beautiful Proteas. The Waterfront was developed only ten years ago and has become the modern entertainment and dining area of the city, magnificently located at a harbor proud of the many multi-national yachts usually found there.

The city’s museums and gardens, including the world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, rival any major city worldwide; the hotels and tourist attractions are legend, including some of the most famous golf courses in the world.