The Company’s Garden (‘Kompanjiestuin’ in Dutch) at the top of Adderley Street in Cape Town, and adjacent to the South African Parliament, takes its name from the Dutch East India Company who first started the garden in 1652. Locals just refer to the area as ‘The Gardens’.
I have never really spent time there, and went there yesterday after dropping my friend Marlien at the airport. The Gardens area is abutted by numerous landmarks, including the lodge house for the slaves who built large parts of the historic city, the present day Houses of Parliament, the Iziko South African Museum and Planetarium, St George’s Cathedral (which is the seat of the Anglican church in South Africa), the National Library of South Africa, the South African National Gallery, the Great Synagogue and Holocaust Centre as well as Tuynhuys, which is used by the President for state events.
