Adderley Street
Cape Town

Adderley Street can be called Cape Town's main street. It reaches from the Heerengracht up to the entrance of the park Company's Garden. In 1850, it was named in honour of the British parlamentarian Charles B. Adderley, who vehemently and successfully fought against the plan of the British government to make Cape Town another convict colony.

The street is lined on each side by big old office buildings, many belonging to the South African insurance, financing and banking groups.

Coming from the sea, there is, at the beginning of the street, Cape Town's railway station (Central Station) in a somewhat unsightly building. The traffic of the overland busses also has its centre here.

On the square in front of the station is a permanent open-air market. Here one can find, besides leather goods and shoes, curios and handcrafted goods, cheap clothing and imitations of famous sportswear brands (Diesel, Quiksilver, Nike) for the shortlived good impression. A pedestrian bridge leads to the Golden Acre, South Africa's oldest shopping centre. Nowadays the St. George's Mall is more popular for shopping. It runs parallel to Adderley Street and many of the shops have entrances on both sides.

Flower Market Cape Town

Between Strand Street and Darling Street, lies the famous Flower Market. Freshly cut flowers have been sold here on weekdays for more than a hundred years.

The upper part of Adderley Street is characterised by a number of historical buildings. On Church Square is the entrance to the Groote Kerk, one of the oldest churches in South Africa and motherhouse of the first parish of the NG Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church). At the end of the street is the Slave Lodge with a statue of Jan Smuts in front of it. The Dutch-East-India Company imprisoned its slaves there. Today it is a museum for cultural history.

Accommodation within the city centre and the City Bowl suburbs of Gardens, Oranjezicht and Tamboerskloof can be found on the blue INFO page.

Left: Adderley Street. Top: Heerengracht and Adderley Street by night. Right: Flower Market.

Cape Town
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