The Castle has been in existence since the 1670s. It used to be a fort and military centre and even a prison. Nowadays, the Castle houses the Military Museum and holds a high-noon firing of the cannon.
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| The preparation of firing the cannons |
There were hour-long guided tours of the Castle, where the tour guide would narrate the history and take you around different areas of the Castle. The Castle's pentagonal shape highly reminds me of The Pentagon in the United States.
During the tour, the most memorable for me and my kids was the interrogation room that the tour guide led us into. The interrogation room was where the soldiers used to bring captives and punish them. The interrogation room had an adjoining room attached to it where the captives were kept. The adjoining room was filled with emptiness except for a barred window placed almost to the ceiling that let some light in. This was the only thing that the prisoners would see during their stay in this room, sometimes for several days on end. The soldiers would take one prisoner and torture him in the interrogation room while the rest would be locked up in the adjoining room. The screams and howls of the tortured would then drive fear into the rest of the captives. Quite wicked.
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| Missy just couldn't shake the fear from her facial expression |
There is a key ceremony that occurs right before the firing of the Signal Cannon is performed. Both the ceremony and the firing are the main highlight of visiting the Castle.
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| Key Ceremony |
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| Firing of the Cannon |
After which, we spent a few minutes at the Military Museum, looking through historical weapons and waxed replica of native people in South Africa.
The Castle of Good Hope is definitely a piece of history not to be missed. Go on and check out their site.
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