Western Cape DestinationsDe Waterkant, City Bowl
De Waterkant is, in truth, a modernised rendition of the Bo-Kaap and lies just next to this same suburb.
This is a trendy area that has maintained, and even accentuated, the colourful, bright semi-detached houses - restoring them into fashionable cottages that, together with the cobbled, tree-lined streets and spectacular views, bring to mind New York’s Greenwich Village and London’s Soho.
The De Waterkant Village - now as many as 80 properties within walking distance of restaurants, the Cape Quarter shopping centre and local entertainment - is regarded as a resort-type experience, although this does the charming, character-full village an injustice. The bright, 18th century cottages are given over to guest houses offering authentic ‘local’ living and nestling on the lower slopes of Signal Hill overlooking Table Bay.
A walk along Wale Street towards the Bo-Kaap (‘above town’), brings you to a neighbourhood that is said to hold the highest number of buildings dating back to before the year 1840, in South Africa, that miraculously managed to survive apartheid and the fate of other similar areas, like district six.
From De Waterkant you can walk to the city centre; the V&A Waterfront and the Table Mountain cableway are a quick drive away; and the fashionable Atlantic beaches and trendy Atlantic Seaboard suburbs are close at hand to explore.
