January 5th - 8th - Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Tuesday, January 5th 

This morning I decided to walk into town.  Apparently where I am staying is on the outskirts and the actual downtown area is quite a ways away.  However, I had nothing else on my agenda so I decided to walk.  What I ended up doing was a long walk to nowhere because I never did reach downtown.  I had the beaches at start and they were beautiful but deserted.  It was a drizzly grey day so definitely not good beach weather.  It was also quite early in the morning.

After the beaches the road veered a bit farther from the water as the area became more industrial.  I had my map wth me but eventually thought the big road in front of me must be where I turn to get to downtown so I turned left away from the water and headed up hill a bit.  It wasn't a steep climb or anything but it was definitely a continual uphill climb.  I kept walking but never did find what I was looking for.  The more I walked the more out of town it became.  I eventually turned left again and kept wandering.  The streets were nice and there was always a sidewalk but I just seemed to get nowhere.  Eventually, after about two hours of walking I saw a sign for the  Boardwalk Casino so I turned and headed in that direction.  That meant going left again and then again later so I was back in a residential area.  Then finally I did see the back entrance to the parking lot of the Casino and knew where I was.

I went into the casino and spent about two hours there.  I paid 200 rand to cover the 20 rand for a card and then put 180 rand on it to play with.  The current exchange rate is about 10 rand to 1 Canadian so it was at most a $20 investment.  I asked cashier which came to play and she said Duma so I went off to find a Duma machine, which took me quite a while but did allow me to visit all of the casino.  The game wasn't too exciting (are they ever?) but I played for over two hours on my $20 investment.  At one point I had almost 2000 rand on the card, which was ten times more than I'd started with, but I kept playing and left with about 1000 rand.  At some point later on I came back for another hour of play and it was down to 600 rand.  Eventually on other visits it went down to zero and that was it, but it had provided many hours of entertainment.

I eventually had enough energy to continue the walk back to my hotel and once there I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and resting, trying to recover from my long walk.  I really didn't want to go anywhere but I decided I'd better head back to the Boardwalk to see the nightly shows.  Some nights they get cancelled because of the weather so I only had a couple of nights to see them.  I went to the 8:00 show that lasted about 15 minutes then had dinner, went to the 9:00 sow and then back to the casino (the other hour mentioned above), then the 10:00 show and eventually back to the hotel.

The shows were each different and I watched them from three different sides of the lake.  There is the fountain display of course and lights and music.  No lasers like in other shows.  Each show was 10-15 minutes long and they were good but not great, certainly not the best I've ever seen.  The good point was there was no wind so I never got wet at all.  The spot in front of the restaurant was closest to the water and those folks were getting really wet.  Their tables were inside and very dry.  They only got wet if they went outside on the patio.  After the last show I wandered back to the hotel and collapsed in bed after a very busy day.

Wednesday, January 6th

Today, I never left the hotel.  I slept in and then just sat around the hotel reading and relaxing and doing some computer work.  I was more than a bit tired and stiff after yesterday's great adventure.  And wouldn't you know it, the day was actually quite sunny and warm so it would have been a great day for a long walk or for some swimming.  Oh well, it was a great day for relaxing too.

Thursday, January 7th

This morning I set off once again to find the downtown area of Port Elizabeth and I actually found it.  It was much further than I thought and I had to ask for directions several times.  It turns out it is about 7 km from the hotel so by the time I got to the main tourist area I was already tired.  And then I had to walk home so it was a lot of walking and not much touring although I did stay most of the day and did see some things which were supposedly the highlights.

I followed what they called the Route 67 tour for the most part.  It involved 67 pieces of art, most of which were really nice and was so named to represent Nelson Mandela's 67 years in public life.  Of course since they covered many city blocks and a lot of walking I did not see them all but I did see all of those around the Donkin Reserve, Pyramid and Lighthouse, which I'll get back to later.  There were murals, sculptures, mosaics, carvings and statues of various people like Mandela and others important to the anti-apartheid movement.  Some were outside in parks or in the streets and some were inside buildings but the covered most of the city from the waterfront to the new sections farther inland. 

The Mosaic Stairs leading up to the lighthouse were definitely hard to miss wth their bright colours representing hope and new beginnings after apartheid ended. Along the way there were lights and stories about the South African journey past, present and future.  Bright yellow X's on the pavement seem to go for miles and represent the people standing in line to vote in the 1994 election.  And further up the stairs there are life-size models of the people standing in line to vote in their first democratic election and with a larger-than-life Mandela waving at them.  The move to freedom is a central theme but so is the nautical history of the city and its multi-cultural background.  The Mosaics in the plaza in front of the lighthouse are beautiful with all its colours and intricacies representing the area's history and cultures.

Port Elizabeth is on Nelson Mandela Bay and it is the point where the British, Dutch, German and native people met.  Of course the Portuguese had discovered it centuries before but didn't spend any time here.  It was the landing place of the 4,000 British settlers in 1820 that really started the modern settlements of today.  At that time Sir Donkin was the Governor of the area and he named the city after his late wife, Elizabeth.  Before the gold and silver boom in other parts of the country, Port Elizabeth was a very prosperous and bustling port.  The Donkin Heritage Trail is a 5 km walk that gives you all of the history.  I did part of it but not all.

The Donkin Reserve LIghthouse and Pyramid are part of a park on a piece of high land overlooking the city.  The garden or park is very nice with flowers and trees and walkways and benches so people can relax and enjoy the view.  Many of the pieces of art are in this area.  The old lighthouse  was built in 1861 and operated officially until 1973.   The lighthouse keepers cottage is now the tourist information office and also houses a small coffee shop where I enjoyed a piece of cake and a hot chocolate while warming up and enjoying the view.  The pyramid beside the lighthouse is dedicated to Elizabeth Donkin, Sir Donkin's late wife who died two years earlier at the age of 28 and never did see the city that now bears her name.  The whole park area is called the Donkin Reserve.

Around the reserve there are a lot of old buildings from the 19th century.   The homes of the settlers are also quite large and one of them was open as I walked by so I went in.  No. 7 Castle HIll is an old parsonage house.  It is one of the oldest dwellings in the city and was built by a Rev. McCleland around 1827.  It is made of stone and brick.  It was interesting to walk around and look at all the old furnishings, although probably not from 1827 as it had been renovated at some point.  The children who were touring the house were having a great time.  They were each given a list of things to find and they were diligently going through all the rooms trying to find them.  I had to help them find the bed warmer because they'd didn't quite understand that concept.  I left their parents to explain it to them, although I wasn't sure that they actually knew what it was all about.  

While on my walk I went by a lot of historical sites such as Market Square and City Hall (1858), the Library (1848), Prince Alfred's Guard Hall (1882) - a very impressive looking building, the old Market Centre (1884) - the auction houses for ostrich feathers, wool, hides, skins and fruit but now part of a concert hall, the Opera House (1892), St. Mary's Anglican Cathedral (1832). the King Edward Hotel (1821 then 1904) and the Grand Gardens Hotel (1866 then 1885).  There were many other old buildings too, some that I went past but didn't identify and some that I never got to.

I did go to Fort Frderick, which was built in 1800 and overlooks the beach at the mouth of the Baakens River.  It was named after the Duke of York at the time "the grand old Duke of York" of song.  It was open to anyone and doesn't have much in it anymore.  You can see the buildings on the inside of the walls and you can walk around portions of the upper wall but that's about it.  There is a nice park area around the fort and you do get a great view but other than that there wasn't much to see.

I walked back to the hotel area and was quite tired and stiff as I did so.  Luckily it wasn't super hot so temperature wise it was pretty nice.  I stopped at the casino on my way by so I could catch my breath (and probably have an ice cream cone from the local store) but mainly so I could lose the last of my money, which I did quite quickly.  My $20 investment was good for 3 sessions of 1 to 2 hours each so pretty cheap entertainment.  After that I made the final part of the journey back to the hotel, did some packing and organizing, and went to bed

Friday, January 8th 

The morning was an easy one as I had breakfast, packed everything up, checked out and took a tai to the airport.  The flight to Jo'burg was delayed a bit because of weather issues in Jo'burg but eventually we left and the flight was very smooth.   I was expecting it to get bumpier as we got closer to Jo'burg but the worst of the thunderstorms were over I guess.  I took a taxi to our hotel.  I checked in "sort of" at the front desk and then the taxi driver took me to the room.  The "sort of" comment means I really just got a key.  I didn't sign anything or pay anything or even give them a credit card imprint, which seemed very odd to me.  Since Randy had booked it, I think he had to devote a lot more time to the check-in process when he and Fran arrived.

The complex looks more like an apartment complex than a hotel so I think it has probably been converted.  Each unit is a townhouse and there are several houses attached in each section.  Some of the people around looked like they probably lived here all the time but obviously some of us were just short-stay visitors too.  Half of the units are up and the other half are down, just two storeys, but they are all quite large with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room / dining room and kitchen.  Ours is on the upper floor and it has a balcony out back which will be good for my smoking companions who never smoke in the house.  They will have some place to go without having to go downstairs.

The rains started again in the afternoon and a bit later the thunder and lightningstarted too.  I don't remember ever hearing or feeling louder thunder.  The whole place shook with each rumble and the rumbles lasted a really long time.  There definitely weren't many cracks of thunder.  Most were just rumbling roars.  And when it got dark the whole sky totally lit up from the Lightning.  I never actually saw a bolt of lightning so I think it must have been sheet lightning but it went on forever.  I probably could have read a book without any lights on that night because it was almost continually light from the lightning.  Luckily I had brought some food with me from Port Elizabeth so I just had a sandwich for lunch and for dinner instead of trying to go outside and find a place to eat.  

I settled in and got things organized and then read for quite a while before finally turning in for a couple of hours of sleep before the others were to arrive around 1 a.m.  I knew I'd hear them and be awake when they arrived so I figured a couple hours of sleep before that wouldn't hurt.