The Bollywood to South Beach Voyage - Regent Seven Seas Voyager, October 29-December 18, 2009
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert
Part Twenty-one
(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)
Breaking the format a bit, we start this post with the end of the last one . . . the actual sunset at Signal Hill, Cape Town, South Africa:
More after the jump . . . November 21 (Saturday, Day 24, Cape Town, South Africa) -
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| Seal on the dock at the V&A |
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| Clock Tower, where we waited for the ferry to Robben Island |
We joined the tour to Robben Island which started with a 30-minute ferry ride to the island, kind of like Alcatraz. It has been a prison and insane asylum for over four centuries. Since 1960 political prisoners were kept there and the last one was released in 1991. Past political prisoners are now the tour guides which has to bring that horror back to them on a daily basis, but with unemployment in South Africa around 40%, any job is considered a good job. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 17 years and we saw his cell (and bucket that he had to use as a toilet) that he lived in for his last 8 years. He was also made to work for 6 hours a day in the limestone quarry. Nothing was done with the lime and each day the prisoners had to just move it to different parts of the quarry. The dust and glare from the lime damaged their eyes and today no one is allowed to use flash when photographing Nelson Mandela for this reason. The weather was gorgeous and we were told that during the prior two weeks, most of the ferries to Robben Island were canceled due to bad weather. We are lucking out, that’s for sure!
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| Robben Island Prison |
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| The limestone quarry |
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| Mandela's cell |
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| Mount Nelson Hotel |
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| High Tea--savories |
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| High Tea--sweets |
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| Fog spilling over the top of Table Mountain |
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| Our second sunset in Cape Town, from our balcony |
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| Cape Town at night |
Next: On top of Table Mountain . . .
