Rouge on Rose provides the chance to stay in one of the city's most historic quarters. Rose Street, along which this modern-ish hotel stands, is among the most characterful roads in the Bo-Kaap, a predominantly Muslim neighborhood with cobbled streets, colorful houses, and the call to prayer ringing out from numerous small mosques. Set on the slopes of Signal Hill (from which the daily Noon Gun cannon is fired), Bo-Kaap is where Cape Town's slaves established themselves after they were liberated. Some scholars believe that Afrikaans (which developed in the kitchens of Dutch-owned households) was first written in one of the mosques here, in Arabic script. Bo-Kaap also happens to be right at the edge of the central city, along with being close to another quaint historic quarter, De Waterkant, plump with some of the city's chicest shopping (and nearly all of its gay nightlife). A stay here rewards travelers with rich variety and, besides, the accommodations themselves are fantastic. Rooms are oversized and wonderfully styled, blending clean-lined modernism with traces of bohemian glamour. There are antiques and objects personally collected by the owner, creatively and artfully laid out in neat spaces, some of which have self-catering facilities. Amenities are few, as this hotel is the size of a guesthouse, but the hands-on owners provide detailed insights about what to see and do in Cape Town, and can arrange just about anything for visitors.