7 Best Sights in The Eastern Cape, South Africa

This is Grahamstown's most prominent landmark, as much by virtue of its steeple—the highest in South Africa at 176 feet—as the strict geometry of the town. High Street runs in a straight line from the cathedral doors through the Drostdy Arch to the doors of the administration buildings of Rhodes University. The cathedral's eight bells, which you can hear ringing out on Sundays, were the first and still are the heaviest in Africa. Though construction on the cathedral started in 1824, it wasn't completed until 1952.

When Grahamstown was a garrison town, the Drostdy Arch, erected in 1841, was the original entrance to the military parade ground. Now it is the gateway through which thousands of Rhodes students pass when leaving campus for town. There is a small crafts market "under the Arch" on weekdays 9–5 and Saturday 9–1.

A teaching and research center for indigenous music, the library has a collection of more than 200 traditional African musical instruments, including djembes (drums), mbiras (thumb pianos), and marimbas (xylophones).

The 10-day National Arts Festival, which takes place in late June and/or early July and is purported to be second in size only to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, is the country's premier cultural event.

The National English Literary Museum houses a comprehensive collection of books, articles, and press clippings on South African writers in the English language, including some unpublished works. There is also a bookshop.

An intriguing study of Victorian-era cutting-edge science, the building was constructed by a watchmaker and amateur astronomer H. C. Gulpin, who built a cupola above his shop to house his instruments. The museum contains a two-story pendulum and the only genuine Victorian camera obscura in the Southern Hemisphere. You can stand in the tower and watch what's happening in the town below—pretty useful if you've lost your companions.

The statue of the Winged Angel of Peace commemorates the dead of the Second South African War (1899–1902), also called the Boer War. The site was chosen as one that was "in the midst of our daily work," so it would be seen often and would serve as an inspiration for peace.