take in a bit of Cape culture as your team goes for glory

We know that you’re here for the soccer, but there’s nothing more attractive than a cultured soccer fan and the Mother City is the cultural capital.

For authentic African art, visit the Pan African Market, an indoor market with antiques and artefacts from across the African continent. Or stroll around the Iziko South African National Gallery and Iziko SA Museum in the Company’s Gardens, a great spot to put your feet up between museum visits and stem the information flow to your brain. There’s also the Bo-Kaap Museum if you want to uncover the rich history of the Cape Malay community and the District Six Museum, a vibrant testimony to the 60 000 people uprooted when the area of District Six was declared ‘white’ in 1965.

Or head for the townships and a local shebeen (tavern), an integral part of daily life. These gathering places are where ideas are exchanged and folklore shared. It’s here that you’ll get an unvarnished version of what people really think, on everything from politics to your own team’s chances of hoisting the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ trophy in victory. Taste traditional beer (umqomboti), in one of many taverns in Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha in the north, or Imizamo Yethu in the south.

Andulela and Coffee Beans Routes (both private tour operators) are offering the Cape Town Soccer Tour which celebrates soccer culture in South Africa. From the Camps Bay beachfront to Gugulethu township, from stadiums outfitted with every state-of-the-art luxury, to stretches of bare earth merely cleared of broken glass, you can explore places where the love of the game conquers all obstacles.

You can also delve into South Africa’s past on Robben Island, where former President Nelson Mandela, himself a soccer fan, was imprisoned for 18 years. Today it’s a United Nations World Heritage Site and museum, a poignant reminder to the newly democratic South Africa of the price paid for freedom. The standard tour is three and a half hours long, including the ferry ride to and from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront.

Beyond Cape Town are many cultural treasures. Head for the charming village of Darling on the Cape West Coast via the wild flower reserves and pop in at Evita se Perron for a meal, a show, or just to browse the cultural kitsch and history that adorns the walls of this eclectic, establishment founded by South African icon, entertainer and activist, Pieter-Dirk Uys.

If you really want to ‘click’ with the locals, then a stop at the !Khwa ttu San Culture and Education Centre is a must. Here you can learn all about traditional and contemporary San culture (it is inappropriate and impolite to use the term “bushman”). See large game such as eland and kudu, learn to identify tracks, how to make fire (no matches allowed!), and test your tongue as you try out all five clicks used in the San family of languages – among the oldest languages on Earth. Be sure to stay for great meals, or even overnight. Just 45 minutes’ drive up the R27 from Cape Town.

For those heading along the R62 towards Oudtshoorn and the Cape Garden Route & Klein Karoo, you’re sure to want a stop at the Kleinplasie Living Open-air Museum at Worcester. This museum in the Cape Winelands, just an hour from Cape Town, is a living museum of traditional 19th century farm life in the Cape. See how they make soap, process tobacco, mill grain and much more. All the fun of rural farm life without having to be up before dawn every day!

Whatever direction you go, cultural experiences await – from the historic lighthouse at Cape Agulhas in the Cape Overberg, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet and mix, to the Moravian Mission and charming community of Elim, to 5 million year-old fossils at the West Coast Fossil Park outside Langebaan, and to the ancient rock art near Clanwilliam. And there are many more cultural activities to experience: from music to dance to comedy, to film, but the trick is finding out where to go and what is on. You’ll do well to check in at the official web site (www.tourismcapetown.co.za) for all the latest postings and details, or pop in to the gateway tourism information centre at the V&A Waterfront. You can always phone the call centre +27 (0) 21 405 4500 – a number well worth saving in your mobile for easy access while you’re out and about.

Return home moved not only by the skill of your team, but by the spirit of the local people.


more:     who / do / eat / shop / party / connect

• Score an adrenaline hat trick [outdoor/active]
• Cheer a killer pass on and off the field [natural beauty]
• When your craving demands more than a burger [gourmet]
• Take in a bit of Cape culture as your team goes for glory [culture and heritage]
• When the sound of the vuvuzela starts getting to you [body, mind and spirit]
• Living it up when the final whistle blows [cosmopolitan vibe]