Cape Town, South Africa

When Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa he observed that it was ‘history that ordained that it be here, at this Cape, over three centuries ago, that began the fateful convergence of the peoples of Africa, Europe and Asia.’ The cape mentioned is the Cape of Good Hope. The name might be fanciful, but does not reveal enough of the country’s fate, given that South Africa’s apartheid past is neither painless nor distant enough to be forgotten.

However, convergence is all too evident in the case of Cape Town, the biggest city of the Cape of Good Hope. The Mother City, as locals call it, is a modern metropolis oscillating, much like the rest of the country, between the first and the third worlds.

Indeed, here is a place of mixed perspectives, a multi-coloured landscape combining all manner of contrasts within its architecture, nature and people. Sublime skylines stand proud alongside ghettos while the downtown area’s splendour is set against a backdrop of poorer areas. But the main fabric that weaves Cape Town’s citizens amongst each other is an ever-present hedonism that can only be found in places like Latin America and Africa.