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There were vendors in the plaza in front of that government building.
The plaza is called the Grand Parade and historically there were
parades, markets, and people killed here for severe transgressions
one would assume.
 
The market carried on for some blocks. Some vendors had booths,
while others were more mobile.
On the next block was this amazing antique car showroom.
 
With a motor-themed restaurant in the same room as all those wonderful
old cars.
 
Our walking goal for the day was to the predominently Muslim section
of town on the flank of Signal Hill called Bo-Kaap where most
of the houses are painted bright colors. This neighborhood began
as white-painted quarters for workers and slaves mostly from Maylaysia
and Indonesia. When the slaves were freed, they painted their
houses bright colors. Now the bright colors make it a tourist
destination. Click here for more
details and history.
One of the neighborhood mosques...
 
We wanted to be at the military gun battery for the noon cannon
firing further up Signal Hill, so we continued onward and walked
up those steps out of the neighborhood.
We were on our way up out of town, but we heard the noon signal
before we reached the battery. What we didn't expect was that
noon was recess time for a school we had walked to.
Most of the boys were coached in rugby while the girls had hula
hoops to play with. With permission, Dean took pictures of the
kids and they were quite interested to see the photos.
 
Since there was plenty of adult supervision, we sat in the shade
at the edge of this field and had our lunch. After a while, all
the kids were herded back into the school and it suddenly became
quiet.
As we hiked further up, there was a good view of the school, the
red-roofed buildings with the high fence.
The Bo-Kaap houses are not far below the playing field in the
foreground.
We hiked up to the battery, which was guarded by this lion, but
it was closed to visitors.
From the battery...
 
We headed back down into the city via a different route. Our ship
is in the photo above the house with the laundry.
 
We stopped to look at the art displayed here--most of it was made
from trash or junk such as the bottle caps covering the body of
the diver.
A poor neighborhood in exquisite 3-D detail...
A close-up of the above work...
 
The artist...
 
The horse is covered in mashed Kurig coffee containers. The birds
seemed more traditional.
A cannabis dispensary, The High End.
 
A smaller mosque in the Bo-Kaap neighborhood.
 
We headed back to the ship. It had been a long day.
The so-called table cloth was starting to form.
From our verandah, the clouds had really covered Table Mountain.
That night, the neon lights of the city contrasted with those
clouds.
We did something different the next day...
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