East City’s art, cafes & dark past

With its history, art and cafes, many of them unique, the East City is increasingly my favourite part of Cape Town.

We start at 10am Charly’s Bakery, with its world famous colourful cakes and premises:

36-38 Canterbury Street (by Harrington Square parking)

District Six, Cape Town, 8001

Keenies can go beforehand to the African School of Coffee – ’empowerment through the lens of coffee’. They have free cupping and tasting every Friday 9am to 10am:

First Floor

Truth Coffee Roasting

36 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town, 8000

A4 Arts Foundation and Spier Arts Trust are not-for-profits in beautifully converted old textile warehouses. They, in a very different way, give tremendous support to South African artists. The A4 considers itself a laboratory for artists. It has a small museum like shop, library, exhibitions and artist residency space. The Spier Arts Trust, in Union House is the home of the Qaqambile Bead Studio which transforms pictures into panels of thousands of beads. The Creative Blocks are a fascinating and inexpensive way to buy South African art.

We stop in front of a variety of monuments, murals and buildings between Plein Street and Harrington Square. Have you spotted the hemp bricks and Flower of Maryam twiggy rosette relief?

To keep our energy up, we pop into New York Bagels, on 44 ‘hipster’ Harrington. While hearing about this family business, founded in 1940, we enjoy their cheesecake which Capetonians travel miles for (if you don’t eat wheat there are crunchies).

10h00 to 12h30

R400 per person paying 10 days in advance, otherwise R500, For payment info and to book:

kate@cultureconnectsa.com

We finish at the Lebanese Bakery

7 Constitution Street

District 6, Cape Town, 8001

Do stay on for an optional lunch (my favourites are chicken with beetroot and butternut dips, washed down with a green juice).

Parking and public transport suggestions are included in the briefing, along with history, I send nearer the time.