Quite a sobering day all in today so a little light relief to begin.  Everywhere we go Sue gets picked out, ( most noticeable in Las Vegas when a half naked member from Magic Mike accosted her- she wasn’t complaining!), so no surprise when yesterday on the Waterfront at CT she was invited to show off her musical skills. 

Robben Island lies 18 miles off the coast of Cape Town. It’s a narrow windswept outcrop of rock. It had been a prison in the 17th C then a Leper Colony, a lunatic Asylum and a naval base.  In the 1960’s it reverted to a prison holding some criminals but mostly Political Prisoners.  The prisoners including Nelson Mandela were put to work building a new prison.

Conditions were horrendous, treatment of the prisoners was horrendous and it’s hard to do it justice in a few paragraphs. The best recommendation is to read Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela.  For 17 years his home was a 2 m x 2.5 m cell.

Most poignantly ex Political Prisoners were the guides and as our elderly guide spoke the silence on our previously very noisy coach was palpable.

There are about 150 residents still who work to maintain the island as it is a World Heritage Site. They share it with snakes, birds, turtles and penguins.

Nobody escaped but the last prisoners were released in 1991 and the prison officially closed in 1996.

You cannot go to South Africa without going to Robben Island and learning about Mandela’s role in bringing an end to Apartheid.

A solemn morning so time to lighten up with lunch on top of Table Mountain.

Many people choose to hike up, sadly we didn’t have time…….. Lunch was actually interrupted as the ‘tablecloth’ descended and we found ourselves sitting in the clouds.

The afternoon didn’t really lighten the mood as we visited the Slave Lodge. This was built in 1679 and the Dutch East India company used it to house 9,000 enslaved people. Also convicts and the mentally ill. A building notoriously crowded and the suffering was immense.

Their names are immortalised on many hundreds of memorials along the walls of what is now a museum. 

Slavery is a huge and emotive subject and a holiday blog cannot really do it justice but we were grateful to have been able to visit both places and add to our understanding.

We are not particularly shy when it comes to selfies but my word this place is windy!!! We’ve  yet to take any yet in which we don’t look like we’ve been dragged, repeatedly, through a hedge backwards.  Tomorrow we will be visiting more picturesque places so Sue will arm herself with the selfie stick.  Mind you today Sue got so hot that she sweated out one of her contact lenses and found herself winking at strangers, involuntarily of course. The  previous evening Sheila put her glasses down in her room and took 20 minutes to find them again – we often feel we really shouldn’t be trusted on holiday together!!