Cape Town, South Africa

2nd stopover

Cape Town, South Africa's legislative capital, was founded in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company. Originally, Cape Town was a small colony located near the Cape of Good Hope but, over the centuries, it has gone on to become the second most populated city in South Africa, after Johannesburg. Today Cape Town accommodates three million inhabitants. In 1990, the policy of racial segregation, apartheid, was officially abolished and, in 1991, South Africa became a multicultural democracy.

Table Mountain, one of the symbols of Cape Town, overlooks the metropolis which opens onto the South Atlantic Ocean and Table Bay. The climate is Mediterranean: temperate in winter (from April to September) and mild in summer (from October to March). Thanks to its splendid landscapes and the spectacular monuments in the city centre, Cape Town is the city which attracts the biggest number of tourists in South Africa. The private sector, in full expansion, represents a sizeable economic resource.