Page 136 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

134  C APE T OWN

Street-by-Street: Gardens ROBBEN ISLAND

Jan van Riebeeck’s famous vegetable garden, established in WATERFRONT
V&A
1652 to provide ships rounding the Cape of Good Hope with
fresh supplies, is still today known as the “Company’s Garden”. K E E R O M S T R E E T
It is a leafy, tranquil area that contains an array of exotic GARDENS
shrubs and trees, an aviary (records show that a “menagerie”
existed here during the time of governor Simon van der Stel),
a conserva tory and a sundial dating back to 1787. There is Locator Map
also an open-air restaurant. Nearby stands a Saffren pear tree, See Street Finder, map 5
planted soon after the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck, which
makes it the oldest cultivated tree in South Africa. Look
out for the disused old well, and the tap that protrudes Q U E E N V I C T O R I A S T R E E T
from the gnarled tree nearby.

The garden is a B L O E M S T R E E T
tranquil haven in
the city with water G R E E N
features, lawns and
benches under tall,
old trees.

w . Iziko South African Museum and Planetarium
The museum concentrates on natural history,
archaeology, entomology and palaeontology. The P E R T H
sophis t icated equipment in the planetarium
reconstructs the southern night skies.

G R E Y P A S S

G A L L E R Y
H A T F I E L D

q South African Jewish Museum
The entrance to this museum is situated Table Mountain
in the Old Synagogue, which was the first Aerial Cableway
synagogue built in South Africa, in 1863.

0. Iziko South African
National Gallery
Key Temporary exhibitions of
the work of contemporary
Suggested route
local artists augment the
permanent collection
of 6,500 paintings.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p384 and pp398–9

134-135_EW_South_Africa.indd 134 25/05/17 2:45 pm