Lately time is passing too quickly. Phones work well, electricity is constant, roads are fast, sights are everywhere – we get caught up doing so much that time to smell the roses becomes a rare luxury.

Yet I found Cape Town – a sophisticated city of four million – a much-needed relief. In town I spent one afternoon walking and found several museums, an exquisite public garden and scores of tourist shops (huge growing sector of South Africa’s economy) selling antiques, African art and leather items, plus Woolworths and Edgars department stores. Nearby the booming Victoria and Alfred Waterfront offers hotels, shops and restaurants in abundance. Jim says this trendy area was shoddy and crumbling when he visited just 10 years ago. New investments and people coupled with picturesque Table Mountain and a fascinating history are making Cape Town a destination city.