My arrival at the Cape brought me back to a different time when we arrived as new Dutch immigrants. It had been exactly sixty-four years since we had stepped ashore after a three-week journey from Southampton.
While the ship unloaded its cargo, along with our belongings, we made our way up Table Mountain. The weather had been divine and the view stunning, This was impressive, coming from the Lowlands, as we had never been up a mountain before.
My mother instantly proclaimed that we were staying forever. “Forever” lasted 12 years, when my parents made the decision to leave South Africa and return to the Netherlands. As underaged teenagers, my brother and I reluctantly followed along. My eldest sister stayed behind with her husband and lived there for the remainder of her life. My brother returned to South Africa within a few years and is still living there today. After my 18th birthday, I left the Netherlands and immigrated to Canada. It had been my first solo trip and I laid the foundations to my future travels.
In 1652, the VOC, better known as The Dutch East India Company, made Cape of Good Hope their weigh station for fresh supplies en route to the Indies. Prince Alfred, second son of Queen Victoria, began the construction of the harbour in 1860. The Union Castle Line docked in the old wharf and today the welcoming V&A Waterfront is a popular tourist attraction. Within walking distance lies the heart of the old city, with streets names named after the canals in Amsterdam.
I once again took the cable car and returned to the top of the mountain with its breathtaking view. I spent the next two hours walking the trails along its edge and captured this couple in a precarious pose for a photo.
My flight back to Amsterdam left the following day and then said my goodbyes to Table Mountain, South Africa and a place I once called home.
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