Wandering the huge avenues of jacaranda trees and taking in the various colonial buildings, you can see why.

Although the city's history and architecture reflects an Afrikaan and English presence, the second largest population there is Indian.

Church and Longmarket Street are the places to go if you fancy a taste of the sub-continent.

Those with an eye for culture are spoilt for choice as the city boasts a number of excellent museums - Macronie House Museum, Voortrekker Museum and the Natal Museum are particularly recommended- as well as the ornate railway station.

At the station a plaque commemorates the day in 1893 when the founder of modern day India, Mohandas Gandhi, was thrown off a train for travelling in the 'white-only' first class compartment.

There are numerous other sites around town that also commemorate the incident.

Cricket fans visiting the Oval are in for a real treat as the ground has a number of unique features.