Robben Island

Eleven kilometres out in a cold sea, the island held political prisoners under apartheid. Mandela's cell was two metres by two and a half; he slept on a mat on the floor and broke limestone in a quarry whose glare permanently damaged his eyes.

The prisoners taught each other in the quarry and called it their university. Three men who were held there later became president of South Africa. The last political prisoners left in 1991, and former inmates now guide visitors through the cells.