Cape Town has been the home of different ethnic groups, many of them brought here as slaves who either bought or earned their freedom. The Bo-Kaap Museum stands on Wale Street and is dedicated to early Muslims who settled here after they had been freed.

The house museum is situated in an area of brightly painted houses typical of Cape Dutch architecture. It is the oldest house in this part of the town, built in 1763. The Muslims who lived in the Bo-Kaap district on the slopes of Signal Hill, were, in the main part, skilled craftsmen – carpenters, tailors and builders.

The museum is decorated with 19th century furniture that would have been used by a typical Muslim family. A large collection of black and white photos in a room on the first floor depict colonial life.

The museum isn’t very big, but it is very interesting and you will learn about Muslim life, about their customs and beliefs and how they were affected by the apartheid system. Under apartheid many of the locals wanted the Muslims to move away from the area, but they had their mosque here and they refused to move. The museum stands today as a reminder of the tenacity and determination of this minority group.

This specialty shop offers a wide range of authentic, traditional African art. The products are chosen by the shop owner from reputable dealers all over the city and the neighboring areas. This shop has played a significant role in establishing the commercial sustainability of the craft industry in Cape Town.

The Slave Lodge is located on the corner of Wale and Adderley Streets and is an interesting museum to visit as it pays tribute to the thousands of slaves brought to Cape Town between the 17th and 19th centuries.

The lodge was built in 1679 and it was here that the Dutch East India Company housed up to a thousand slaves in insanitary, cramped conditions. The original lodge had no windows and was built of unadorned brick, but today it is a smart, white-washed building that tells the story of the African and Asian slaves who lived and worked in the city.

Through interactive displays you will learn about slave family roots, their way of life and how some of them settled in the city after winning their freedom.

The museum has a small but excellent collection of Egyptian artefacts that date back to 3050BC, including silver items, textiles, toys and tools. You can admire a superb collection of Greek vases and ceramics, pottery and cuneiform tablets from the Roman occupation of the Near East.

Between 1811 and 1911 the lodge changed hands several times: it was a post office, a public library, a small prison and the Supreme Court. In the courtyard you will see the tombstones (but not the graves) of Cape Town’s founder, Jan Van Riebeeck and his wife Maria.

If you are interested in architecture and history but don’t want to visit museums, then you will be happy just to photograph De Tuynhuys from the outside, as it houses the offices of the State President and is not open to the public.

It is rather hard to imagine, but in 1675 this building was a rather shabby tool-shed, owned by the Dutch East India Company. At the time there were few splendid buildings in the Cape Town area, which was a basic supply station for Dutch ships passing through the Cape of Good Hope on their way to the Far East and India.

In 1679, when the state governor decided to visit the growing outpost, there was a bit of a panic about where to lodge him. As the tool shed was the only unoccupied building, it was hastily enlarged into a two-storey house with a flat roof and a large veranda.

By 1751 it had become the summer residence for succeeding governors and had been refurbished in the Neo-classical style with sculptures of Mercury and Poseidon added – the former being the Roman god of trade and the latter the god of the sea – to enhance Dutch prowess at both trade and sailing. The beautiful front door was created by a slave carpenter, Rangton Van Bali, whose excellent work later earned him his freedom.

In 1824 a lovely ballroom was added, but the building was damp and no longer habitable except during the driest months of the year. At the beginning of the 20th century the town council considered demolishing it, but as the house was linked to the city’s history, they couldn’t decide whether to knock it down or not.

In 1968 it was decided to restore the house and Gabriel Fagan was commissioned to carry out the necessary repairs. Using drawings that dated back to 1790, he began the work and during restoration he uncovered the façade’s original stucco garlands, bas reliefs and floral decorations that you can photograph today.

Cape Town City Hall is a large Edwardian building in Cape Town city centre which was built in 1905. It is located on the Grand Parade to the west of the Castle and is built from honey-coloured oolitic limestone imported from Bath in England. The Organ was built by Messrs Norman and Beard of London and Norwich, the specifications were drawn up by Sir George Martin, organist of St Paul's Cathedral in London especially for the City Hall. The workmanship and materials are of high quality, and the organ made from mahogany, teak and pine. The tower of the City Hall has a Turret Clock which strikes the hours and chimes the Westminster quarters. The faces of the clock are made from 4 skeleton iron dials filled with opal. The City Hall no longer houses the offices of the City of Cape Town, which are located in the Cape Town Civic Centre. The auditorium is regularly used for concerts, while the City Library was recently moved to the adjacent Old Drill Hall.

Built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest building in South Africa. In 1682, the gated entry replaced the old entrance towards the sea. A bell tower, situated over the main entrance, was built in 1684 — the original bell, the oldest in South Africa, was cast in Amsterdam in 1697 by Claude Frémy and weighs just over 300 kilograms. It was used to announce time, as well as warning citizens in case of danger, since it could be heard 10 kilometers away. Inside, the fortress housed a church, bakery, various workshops, living quarters, shops and cells, among others. The yellow paint on the walls was originally chosen because it lessened the effect of heat and the scorching sun. In 1936 the Castle was declared a national monument. The Castle acted as local headquarters for the South African Army in the Western Cape, but today houses the Castle Military Museum and ceremonial facilities for the traditional Cape Regiments.

District Six is the name of a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. It is best known for the forced removal of over 60,000 of its inhabitants during the 1970s by the apartheid regime. On 11 February 1966, the government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in 1968. The old houses were bulldozed. In 1989 the District Six Museum Foundation was established, and in 1994 the District Six Museum came into being. It serves as a remembrance to the events of the apartheid era as well as the culture and history of the area before the removals. The ground floor is covered by a large street map of District Six, with handwritten notes from former residents indicating where their homes had been; other features of the museum include street signs from the old district, displays of the histories and lives of District Six families, and historical explanations of the life of the District and its destruction.