Back on the waterfront near the clock tower and ferry terminal, we don’t want to wander far because we have a little less than an hour to get to the ferry for Robben Island.  We decide to go back to Kapstadt Brauhaus, since it is right there, and we know they have good beer and wine – plus how can you go wrong with a Brauhaus?  We make ourselves comfy outside on the patio overlooking one of the boat harbors and dig into and awesome hot dog with sauerkraut and hot mayo as well as a hauswurst (knockwurst) with some fries on the side.  It’s a perfect light-ish lunch and just enough in our stomach for the sometimes rough ride over to Robben Island (I take a precautionary Dramamine, just to be on the safe side!).

Down at the Ferry point, we are checked in and standing in line to board with plenty of time to spare.  The wait isn’t all that bad, as there is a video monitor with history of the prisoners who were held on the island – many there for political reasons – to keep us occupied.  Once aboard, the ride is nice and smooth (thank heavens) and the boat appears to be brand new, with nice comfy leather chairs and huge wide windows.  The ride takes about half an hour, after which time we are debarked and transferred to busses that will take us on a tour of the island before visiting the prison.

The island is fairly large with a lot of residences, once for the guards and prison workers, now for the people who run the island as a museum.  Our guide on the bus is very sweet and funny.  She gives us a little history, points our different sights, and generally keeps us entertained and informed all the way around the island.  We stop once for a bathroom break and photo opp of Table Mountain across the bay, then hop back on to reach the prison for our in person tour, conducted by one of the former inmates.  On the way there though, our bus guide treats us to a poem in Isixhosa that gives us plenty of examples of the clicks they use in the language.  She even does it twice to make sure all of us get it recorded properly on our phones (but I can’t quite figure out how to load it to the blog yet. Maybe next time!)!

At the prison, our guide is Billy Nair who was imprisoned in 1969 for Sabotage, or so it says on his intake form.  He has a great narrator voice and takes us through the areas of the prison, giving a long talk in the barracks where he was actually held.  He describes the conditions, the work they were forced to do, how they stuck together and made educational committees and tried to help each other through their sentences.  Most were there because they protested the oppressive rules of the Apartheid government, and most were held for almost 20 years here before being released.  And we thought Romania had a tortured history!  This place is totally tortured, and to a large decree, it still is!

After seeing Billy’s communal cell area, we are led through to the B section where the leaders were held in single cells.  Each had either a mat to sleep on, or a small cot, with nothing more than a small table and a pot to use for their bathroom needs.  I think the leaders were separated from the rest of the men so they couldn’t put together resistance, at least that’s what I seem to remember from Billy’s talk and from some pictorial exhibits placed in the work yard. 

At any rate, it is a very sobering tour to think of all these men imprisoned here, likely only for political reasons, and all the harm that comes from selfish, xenophobic people.  And with that, the tour is complete. We are now free to wander back down to the pier to take our ferry back to Cape Town.

We use our tickets to check back into the pier, then go stand in line, unfortunately in the brutal sun, until the ferry is ready to board.  Once we’re underway, it’s a quick journey back and we are back on the waterfront in jiffy where we head toward the food stalls to grab a beer and wine and sit outside in the shade and the breeze for a bit before returning to the apartment for the evening.

Tonight, we once again eschew the chicken (and now steak) in the fridge to try out the Vasco De Gama Tavern located in the courtyard behind our apartment.  It’s your basic sports pub, albeit with gambling, with a great vibe – the staff are super friendly, the owner (or manager) coming around to everyone’s table to chat and make sure everything is going right. We sit outside with a nice breeze and order chicken livers (for Ed of course!) that come in this spicy sauce, Chorizo and Calamari and Chicken Trinchado which is a local dish with a relatively tame, but excellent tasting sauce.  It’s all really good – and really too much to eat (as usual). The bonus is that we can take leftovers and add them to our picnic items for a last dinner tomorrow night!  And that is exactly what we do with the left over chicken and chorizo sausage. By the time we are done in this town, our little “picnic” dinner will end up a four course meal!

We spend the rest of the evening immersed in laundry and emails and any follow up we need to accomplish in the next 24 hours before we board the Quest.