Running down the middle of what is today the city’s Central Business District is Adderley Street, the modern thoroughfare which replaced the old Heerengracht or ‘Gentleman’s Walk’, a simple road stretching along the banks of the canal that linked the Dutch settlement to the docks on Table Bay. This conglomeration of Dutch and Victorian architecture, interspersed with modern wonders of glass and concrete, is the heart of Cape Town, and on either side of Adderley Street is an eclectic array of sightseeing highlights and urban attractions that endows the Mother City with its unique flavour.

Named in 1849 for Charles Adderley, the British politician who thwarted attempts by the crown to turn the Cape into a convict station, Adderley Street, the upper half of the Heerengracht, is the city centre’s main concourse and forms the heart of Cape Town.

Along its busy pavements are shops and businesses of every description, as well as the inimitable flower sellers and street vendors who add both colour and life to the business district.

The Groote Kerk, overlooking both Church Square and upper Adderley Steet is the Mother Church of the Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) and dates back to 1700, when the Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel laid the foundations for the new church. The Groote Kerk is noted for its fine architectural and sculptural features, particularly the extraordinary pulpit, which rests on a pedestal of lions, and was carved by sculptors Anton Anreith and Jan Graaff in 1789.

The Cultural History Museum provides visitors with some insight into just a few of the peoples who lived at the Cape during the period of the early settlement

A long line of old oak trees separates tranquil Government Avenue from the stately Houses of Parliament, Tuynhuys, the Cultural History Museum and the South African National Gallery, making the leafy pedestrian boulevard a favourite both for lunchtime office workers and the grey squirrels brought to the colony from North American by Cecil John Rhodes. Along the length of the avenue lie the six acres of Company’s Garden, originally laid out in 1652 by Jan van Riebeek and his gardener Hendrik Boom. The garden’s original purpose was as a vegetable garden to provide fresh supplies to the ships of the Dutch East India Company when they called at the Cape. Today the garden is home to a magnificent array of both indigenous and exotic vegetation.

Running down the middle of what is today the city’s Central Business District is Adderley Street, the modern thoroughfare which replaced the old Heerengracht or ‘Gentleman’s Walk’, a simple road stretching along the banks of the canal that linked the Dutch settlement to the docks on Table Bay. This conglomeration of Dutch and Victorian architecture, interspersed with modern wonders of glass and concrete, is the heart of Cape Town, and on either side of Adderley Street is an eclectic array of sightseeing highlights and urban attractions that endows the Mother City with its unique flavour.

Named in 1849 for Charles Adderley, the British politician who thwarted attempts by the crown to turn the Cape into a convict station, Adderley Street, the upper half of the Heerengracht, is the city centre’s main concourse and forms the heart of Cape Town.

Along its busy pavements are shops and businesses of every description, as well as the inimitable flower sellers and street vendors who add both colour and life to the business district.

The Groote Kerk, overlooking both Church Square and upper Adderley Steet is the Mother Church of the Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) and dates back to 1700, when the Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel laid the foundations for the new church. The Groote Kerk is noted for its fine architectural and sculptural features, particularly the extraordinary pulpit, which rests on a pedestal of lions, and was carved by sculptors Anton Anreith and Jan Graaff in 1789.

The Cultural History Museum provides visitors with some insight into just a few of the peoples who lived at the Cape during the period of the early settlement

A long line of old oak trees separates tranquil Government Avenue from the stately Houses of Parliament, Tuynhuys, the Cultural History Museum and the South African National Gallery, making the leafy pedestrian boulevard a favourite both for lunchtime office workers and the grey squirrels brought to the colony from North American by Cecil John Rhodes. Along the length of the avenue lie the six acres of Company’s Garden, originally laid out in 1652 by Jan van Riebeek and his gardener Hendrik Boom. The garden’s original purpose was as a vegetable garden to provide fresh supplies to the ships of the Dutch East India Company when they called at the Cape. Today the garden is home to a magnificent array of both indigenous and exotic vegetation.

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