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| << January24, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 118 dated 24.1.2005 |
February08, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 120 dated 7.2.2005 >> |
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Turtle Essays Edition no 119 dated 31st January 2005 ** Love to Travel? Find out how to make your money go further! Get your copy of ???The Travel Secrets Guide??? and start saving today! http://hop.clickbank.net/?Brerrabbit/infodawg ** Looking for cheap airtickets to all destinations. Try us! http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=26917872&siteid=41315606&bfpage=homepage" ** Do you live in an area where droughts occur? Visit : http://www.landscapingsecrets.com/?hop=brerrabbit to find out how to plan your low water garden. ** In this edition Editor's Blurb The history of Cape Town's Attractions Cruises from the V & A Waterfront ** Editor's Blurb Hi there folks! Welcome to all my new and regular readers. This week I have been frequenting one of Cape Town's premier attractions and have put together some articles about it. Cape Town is still experiencing drought conditions although we had a sprinkling of rain during last week. Just enough to dirty any cars standing outside but not enough to wet anything. Boy, do we need the rain now. It's so strange that areas a 200 kilometres north and east of us can get so much rain that they have floods and that we are getting nothing. Many of the clouds carrying the rain pass over us and don't drop a single drop on us. The good thing is that we are past the summer solstice and although the sun still sets at about 8.00 pm in the evenings it is getting earlier each day. Of course this means that autumn will soon be upon us and winter shortly thereafter and hopefully this year we will get the rain that missed us last year. Enough of me for this week! Have a good one. Geoff Fairman ** The history of Cape Town's Attractions Cape Town's V & A Waterfront once was a dilapidated virtually unused harbour. Many large buildings were standing rotting on the quays and were a haven to rats and mice. Nobody in his right mind would venture near the place as it was considered dangerous to go there. At that time the harbour fell under the control of the SAR & H. (South African Railways and Harbours) It was felt by the authorities that if Cape Town wanted to attract visitors from abroad a decent upmarket venue had to be provided for them. To find land for such a project especially in the centre of Cape Town was a problem. Looking around the authorities found that the SAR & H was sitting on a number of properties where the land was being under utilised. Three properties were identified for further study. The Cape Town station with its parking deck and its central position in the heart of Cape Town was one of the properties looked at. Culemborg which was a storage yard for goods arriving and departing from Cape Town by rail was the second property that was considered. The third was the unused Victoria and Alfred harbour area. After careful consideration and planning two of the three properties were chosen to be upgraded. The V & A Waterfront was the main one and the secondary upgrade was the area around the Cape Town station where underground malls were built beneath Adderley street with access from the station, the Golden Acre and St Georges Mall. The whole length of St Georges Street was closed to traffic and brick paved to become a walking mall. Trees were planted up the the centre of the mall to provide shade. Today this area is a hive of activity especially during lunch hours when people enjoy their lunch at the many cafe's and restaurants that have blossomed there. Street vendors have been allowed to set up shop in the mall which adds to the attraction. The renewal of the V & A Waterfront is a mammoth task and is ongoing as I write this article. To date buildings on all the quays that form part of the Waterfront have been renewed and contain shops, offices and restaurants. Every nook and cranny has been utilised if not by buskers then informal and formal markets. Being a working harbour has enhanced the area as there are always boats moving in and out of the various quays. Pleasure cruises abound, and as you walk along the quays you will be approached by vendors trying to sell you a boat trip around the harbour. If you have the time take the cruises as the harbour is extremely interesting and has quite a chequered history. To the west of the complex there used to be a tank farm where bunker and other oil supplies were kept for shipping. These tanks have been removed and the ground excavated. Walls that once held out the sea were opened up and the tank farm was flooded to form a new basin for small boats. Part of the renewal was the construction of a number of five star hotels on the site of the old Cape Town power station at the bottom end of Long Street. As Cape Town was established on the coast and now finds itself a number of kilometres inland due to reclamation of the Foreshore it was decided to build a canal from the waterfront to the new Convention Centre to bring the sea back to the people. The canal has become a reality and a water taxi now plies from the Convention Centre to the Waterfront along the canal. At the Waterfront the canal ends abruptly in midair as it is a couple of metres above sea level at this point. When construction of the new upmarket apartments around the edge of the tank farm are complete I assume that the canal will be extended around the edge of the new basin to give access to the Waterfront proper. With all the changes that have taken place in Cape Town over the last few years Cape Town has become one of the favourite destinations of holiday makers. As schools have restarted for 2005 and all the local holidaymakers have gone home it is time for our foreign visitors to arrive. At this time of the year the weather is great, the wind is starting to abate and in my opinion its the best time to visit us. Book your trips today, we would love to see you here. ** Cruises from the V & A Waterfront. As I mentioned in my article above there are a number of boat cruises to be had. Some of them are very short and take you into all the basins that form the V & A Waterfront. All the quays in the harbour are numbered and on these trips the uses of the buildings on them are explained. Here and there some of the very old buildings have been renovated and stand proud amongst the newer buildings that have been erected. A number of cruises also exit the harbour area and head out into Table bay. There are some exciting ones especially when the boats use sail once out in the bay. Watching the sails fill out and the boat heel over as the wind takes effect is enough to bring excitement to any sailor's heart. A number of sundowner cruises exist and this week I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the opening ceremony of a new cruise that is being introduced on Wednesday evenings. The cruise leaves the harbour at about 7.00pm and makes its way around the Sea Point coastline and enters the bay at Clifton stopping about 200 metres from the world famous bikini beach. While on the cruise snacks are served and a cash bar on board allows you to have a couple of sundowners while you watch the sun set into the Atlantic Ocean. Nobody can imagine the splendour of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostle mountain range as it first turns orange and then black as the sun drops below the horizon. I am sure that this particular cruise will become extremely popular as it allows people a midweek opportunity to do a sunset cruise. On the outward leg of the cruise the coastline is bathed in sunshine and once the sun sets a whole new spectacle can be seen. As darkness sets in the lights all along the coast start to come on and the view from the bay is quite spectacular. I can just imagine the feelings of someone who has been at sea for a number of weeks entering Table Bay after dark and seeing this spectacular show of lights. It's enough to bring tears to your eyes. Once you have rounded Signal Hill on your way into the harbour Table Mountain presents itself in all its glory. It's floodlit at night and stands there with its arms open beckoning you in. (Like a mother to us Capetonians) I cannot explain the emotions that an evening cruise into Table bay can awaken in you but I can recommend that you experience one for yourself. We'll see you there soon! Geoff Fairman ** * Turtle Travels new blog is online now. Topic : It'sraining in Cape Town http://turtleessays.blogspot.com * Like to have your own rose garden. Find out how to do it from an expert. Here is his link: http://hop.clickbank.net/?brerrabbit/mcplants ** Please read the disclaimer at http://www.turtlesa.com/Disclaimer.html See you all soon Geoff Fairman ** |
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| << January24, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 118 dated 24.1.2005 |
February08, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 120 dated 7.2.2005 >> |
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