Cape Town

Cape Town - darkometer rating : 4 - The second capital of South Africa (officially the first is Pretoria, but parliament, government and president are partially based in Cape Town too). After Johannesburg it's also the second largest city. But it's not merely second best… In fact, most people would agree that it is by far the most beautiful city in South Africa. Personally, I wouldn't go quite so far as placing it amongst the very best cities in the world, but it sure has appeal – although less so through architecture or general flair. It's the setting that makes it, esp. Table Mountain towering over the city! For the dark tourist it is the most rewarding destination within South Africa, in particular for Robben Island , the infamous prison island that Nelson Mandela was incarcerated on and which since 1997 has been a memorial and museum for tourists to visit on guided tours. But there is also the small but fascinating District Six Museum, which covers a very different aspect of the dark days of Apartheid . A dark chapter of a different sort (although possibly the darkest of them all) is covered in Cape Town's own and pretty unique Holocaust museum (a bit of a surprise find down here in the deep south of Africa). All three are given separate entries here. Robben Island District Six Museum Cape Town Holocaust Centre In addition to those dark sites, Cape Town is well worth a visit for various non-dark reasons. Most notably of course Table Mountain. A trip to the top is practically obligatory when in the city. And so is the excursion to the Cape of Good Hope; even though it isn't actually the southernmost point of the continent that it was long believed to be … but it is nearly – and it's spectacularly scenic in any case.