Castle of Good Hope

After the walk, the sun was still shining, so we decided to walk down to the Castle of Good Hope, known locally as simply ‘The Castle’ or ‘Cape Town Castle’. It hadn’t featured on any of the ‘Best Things to do in Cape Town’ articles I had read, so we had few expectations, imagining a ruin behind the walls we could see from the road. How wrong we were! It is a complete, sympathetically restored fort, with plenty to keep us occupied for a couple of hours. Indeed, we discovered that it is considered the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort.

When the castle was first built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, it was located on the coast of Table Bay. Due to land reclamation schemes, it is now located inland.

The Dutch built the fort as a result of growing tensions between them and the British. There were rumours of war, and they wanted to protect their successful replenishment station in the Cape. They decided to build a pentagonal fortress out of stone. It was a huge complex, housing a church, bakery, various workshops, living quarters, shops, and cells. The yellow paint still seen on the walls was originally chosen because it lessened the effect of heat and the sun. A wall, built to protect citizens in case of an attack, divides the inner courtyard from the outer one. The grand living quarters of the fort’s first governor, Simon van der Stel, are built against this wall. The house was completed in 1695 and includes three dining rooms, three elaborate bedrooms, offices, kitchens, and extensive wine cellars. There is even an elaborate pool in the grounds!

The British captured the fort in 1806 and made many changes over the following decades, including filling in the swimming pool! However, when the restoration work was done in the 1980s, the castle was largely returned to how it would have looked when it was first built.Read more