Hey Steemians, so I decided to put together a list of 4 of the most interesting things that you might not know about Cape Town and surrounds, the images attached are not mine they were retrieved off the net which is why I have left all original names on images however the writing and composition of facts learned from different web site's and knowledge from my childhood were compiled by myself.
Cape Town is a very diverse City we have a lot of heritage and culture stemming from when Jan Van Riebeek landed here in 1651 with the ships called the Dromedaris, Reijger and Goede Hoop. Since that time Cape Town has under gone extensive changes with a divers culture of many races. Below is a short listing (more to follow) on some of the historic structures that are still standing and what it took to create the structures.
WW2 RADIO TOWER IN KOMMETJIE
I used to play in these ruins as a child, packing food for the day and hiking up the mountain with my brother and friends, we would explore caves and interesting depressions that we saw from our house. Unbeknownst to us there were WW2 Ruins on top of the mountain, full structures and look outs. We were astonished to find these ruins and explore them as you kids. Know one had told us about this peace of history that was right on our door step, the find to us was like discovering The Cape of Good Hope in 1651 by Jan Van Riebeek. We told our parents about our find and as parents do, they paid us know never mind, till we managed to take up a camera (back in those days we called them a happy snap wind up) and had the images developed to prove to our parents that we were telling the truth. Of course back then we had to cut the lawn and tend the garden every Saturday for a month to make enough money to have the images developed ..... lol.
As it turned out this used to be a WW2 Radio Station that was manned 24/7 and had a hand operated directional device that would have to be turned in order to scan the vast expanse to find SOS signals from merchant ships that were hunted by German submarines, ships were then scuttled from Simon's Town to assist in the retrieval of any survivors. In our modern world we take so much for granted.
Below are images of the ruins, when I was a kid they did not look like this, non of the art seen on the walls was made by me, my brother or our friends. To note I did not take these pics but they were the best I could find on the web.
JUST NUISANCE SIMON'S TOWN
Growing up my Grandad was a Mager in the SA Army, my Gran would tell me stories about an amazing dog called commonly as Just Nuisance that used to look after drunk sailors in Simon's Town, I was absolutely fascinated with this story she would tell of his tails and how used to usher drunk sailors off of the train to ensure they were not injured or pull the sailors by the scuff to get them out the road so not to be injured, so I asked my gran, did Just Nuisance know these people and she said to me no, he would help strangers and was known as a saint among sailors, who loved and adored him and had great respect and thankfulness for his help for their safety.
Here are some interesting facts to tie in my child hood memories of this remarkable dog named Just Nuisance.
-His exact date of birth is not know.
-He was a Great Dane Breed.
-He was purchased by Benjamin Chaney who ran the United Services Institute in Simon's Town.
-He became popular with patrons who would feed him snacks, doing this he followed patrons back to the Naval Base and dockyards.
-Where he would lie on decks of ships his most favorite place was lying at the top of the gang plank.
-Nuisance traveled freely and would often hop on trains and ride them for 22 miles, unless he was discovered by the train conductor who would put him off at the next station, this did not bother him as he would just wait for the next train and be on his merry way.
-The conductors were not amused and stated that if he was not to pay for his travel he would have to be put down.
-The sailors and public quickly rallied to ask the Navy to step in to assist as Nuisance's life was in danger. A suggestion was made that if he was enlisted into the armed forces he would not have to pay train fare and so he would be safe.
-Just Nuisance was enlisted into the Royal Navy on the 25th of August 1939.
-He never went to sea but did many tasks round the naval base.
Below is an image of Just Nuisance to his memorial and stands in town square in Simon's Town.
SCALA BATTERY SIMON'S TOWN
This was one BIG gun/cannon. Being the only gun of it's kind in Simon's Town or anywhere close, my Grandad told me stories of test fires that were conducted in the test phase of the cannons construction, my Grandad told me that as and eye witness the BANG was so loud it would shatter all the windows in the buildings in Simon's Town. (Anybody know a good glass fitting company?) That is crazy, oh my gosh. I thought this must be a myth why would they build such a destructive peace of equipment in a built up area? But as my Grandad had told me this cannon was one of three protecting the entire bay area.
I was told by my Grandad that it was so accurate it could be with in a meter off its target which would be +/- 35km away. I took my son there about a year back and we climbed the ruins, you can not get inside the 2 story structure any more it has been barricaded.
I have tried to find out some history on the cannon but have not been lucky yet.
Just some scattered information here and there. I think it was a 9 inch cannon but am not sure.
Below is an image of the cannon, again sadly this is not my image but what I could find on the web
ROMAN ROCK LIGHT HOUSE SIMON'S TOWN
This lighthouse has fascinated me since childhood, I would see helicopters making drop offs from my Grandmothers house and wonder how the hole system worked as it was so far out at sea. My Gran had a telescope which I used to look at the structure and marvel at the waves breaking against it's structure on windy winter days.
Some facts about this amazing lighthouse
-Built between 1861 and 1865.
-It is situated on a rock in the ocean and is one of the few that have been built like this.
-The lighthouse was designed by Alexander Gordon.
-It took 4 years to construct the lighthouse.
-There was 4 reflectors that formed part of the design and revolved on a 4 min cycle.
-The automatic flash occurred every 6 seconds.
-There were 2 lighthouse keepers that worked on a 7 day shift rotation.
-It was powered by dissolved acetylene gas.
I hope you have enjoyed my walk of childhood memories and it was great to share this experience with the Steeit Community.
Attached are the links where I have found my research and information, quiet amazing areas that are in Cape Town and memories from my childhood. (more memories to come)
WW2 RADIO TOWER IN KOMMETJIE
http://radarmasters.co.za/2014/12/22/celebrating-the-75th-birthday-of-radar-in-south-africa/
JUST NUISANCE SIMON'S TOWN
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Nuisance
SCALA BATTERY SIMON'S TOWN
Image taken from google
ROMAN ROCK LIGHT HOUSE
http://www.simonstown.org/roman%20rock%20lighthouse