Cape Town, South Africa travel resource.

Cape Town,South Africa.

Cape Town, the oldest port in southern Africa, is regularly heralded as one of the most beautiful cities on earth. The massive sandstone bulk of Table Mountain, often draped in a flowing "tablecloth" of clouds, forms an imposing backdrop to the city while pristine, uncrowded beaches line the cliff-hugging coast. Mountainous slopes sustaining the world's most varied botanic kingdom (some 9,000 species strong) overlook fertile valleys carpeted with vines, and minutes from the city center you can spot zebra and wildebeest grazing unperturbed by the hubbub below. A global hot spot (Newsweek rated it as one of the world's 8 new meccas, and in a recent BBC poll, the city ranked fifth in "50 Places to See Before You Die"), the city feels -- and is -- very different from the rest of Africa.
Situated in the far southwestern corner, Cape Town is physically separated from the rest of the continent by a barrier of mountains. The hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters are Mediterranean, while the Atlantic Ocean is as frigid here as it is off the coast of Maine. Unique, too, is the Cape's architectural heritage -- Cape Dutch homesteads, neo-Gothic churches, Muslim minarets, and English-inspired Georgian and Victorian buildings speak of the influences of a multifaceted colonial past.