Despite its name, the castle isn't one of those
fairy-tale fantasies you find perched on a cliff. It's a squat fortress
that hunkers into the ground as if to avoid shellfire. Built between
1665 and 1676 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to replace an
earthen fort constructed by Jan van Riebeeck in 1652, it's the oldest
building in the country. Its pentagonal plan, with a diamond-shape
bastion at each corner, is typical of the Old Netherlands defense system
adopted in the early 17th century. The design was intended to allow
covering fire for every portion of the castle. As added protection, the
whole fortification was surrounded by a moat, and the sea nearly washed
up against its walls. The castle served as both the VOC headquarters and
the official governor's residence, and still houses the regional
headquarters of the National Defence Force. Despite its bellicose
origins, no shot has ever been fired from its ramparts, except
ceremonially.
You can wander around on your own or join one of the guided tours at
no extra cost. Also worth seeing is the excellent William Fehr
Collection. Housed in the governor's residence, it consists of antiques,
artifacts, and paintings of early Cape Town and South African history.
Conservationists should go upstairs to see John Thomas Baine's The
Greatest Hunt in Africa, celebrating a "hunt" in honor of Prince
Alfred, when nearly 30,000 animals were driven together and slaughtered.
. COST: R18. OPEN:
Weekdays 9-3:30, Sat. 9-1; tours at 11, noon, and 2.
