Anyone that has visited the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town knows that this is a picturesque centre popular with tourists for the variety of hotels, shopping, dining and adventure activity centers found here. However the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront also houses an underlying history rich in battle stories and world discovery and many of Cape Town’s museums can be found here.
Cape Town Diamond Museum
This non-profit organization was set up by Shimansky as a gift to the city. The Cape Town Diamond Museum is situated in the Clock Tower center and this luxury museum pays tribute to the world’s most precious gem, the diamond. Visitors to the museum can enjoy a personal walking tour of the journey of the diamond from formation to purchase. Entry costs just R50 per person.
Iziko Maritime Museum
The Maritime Museum at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront gives an overview of the shipping history and current shipping projects of South Africa. The museum houses a vast collection of model ships, a variety of images showing the harbours progress and a number of ancient shipping artifacts. Entry is just R10 for adults while under 18s are free.
Chavonnes Battery Museum
The Chavonnes Battery Museum shows the history of the fortification of the Cape Town harbor and it is here were visitors get a peek into the underground battery structure that lies beneath the modern day Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. This magnificent museum preserves this important part of local history and here visitors can see the popular gunnery display which houses various replicas as well as originals.
Robben Island
While not technically located at the waterfront, Robben Island can be reached via the ferry that departs from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town. Here visitors can visit the old maximum security prison found on Robben Island, experience a bus ride around the island and see the cell in which ex-president Nelson Mandela endured his hardships during apartheid. Rates for the 3.5 tour vary with the average trip costing R230 per person.
Historical Walking Tours
The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront itself is in fact one large museum and at every turn visitors will find an historic artifact of the city. Walking tours of the waterfront cost just R50 per adult and visitors are shown the Clock Tower, an historical landmark which houses the old tidal gauge, a decorative mirror room and the old clock mechanism along with the African Trading Port, the Robinsons Dry Dock which is the oldest of its kind still in use, the Old Power Station, the Pump House, the Breakwater Prison and the Union Castle Building amongst others.
This guest article was contributed by Janine Mare. Janine is a regular contributor for a number of travel-related blogs and websites and she currently works for the South African Tourism Company http://www.south-african-hotels.com. Janine loves to be a tourist in her own city and loves learning about the history of the world this modern-day world she lives in.
