Author: fitravel

This author has written 4706 articles
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Tjoekepaf, here comes the Apple Express

A busy schedule, working till just before Christmas and all kinds of other excuses led to us only being able to go on the Apple Express on the last weekend it was running in January.  And it seems I placed the photos in a folder to edit and totally forgot to do so.  After nearly 8 years of inactivity, the first fase of the Apple Express' comeback took place in December with a partnership between the operator, the municipality and Transnet.  The…

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23/03/2018
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Sunday stroll at the beachfront market

On Sunday at about lunchtime, the Damselfly and I headed down to the beachfront for a walk along the stalls at the Kings Beach Fleamarket.  I'm sure many will agree with me that the flea market isn't what it used to be anymore, BUT... and I have to add this as a counter for everybody who keeps saying that going to walk at the flea market is a total waste of time.  Taking a walk through the flea market still…

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20/03/2018
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St Mary’s front and back

On Tuesday I posted a picture of St Mary's Cathedral in the Port Elizabeth city centre.  I realised that although people may know what the cathedral looks like from the outside, that not many may have been inside the cathedral yet.  So today I'm posting two pictures taken inside the building, one looking to the front...... and one looking back at the pews.

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15/03/2018
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The Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin

Before the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820 the needs of the British garrison in Algoa Bay were served by chaplains in passing ships. By 1825 the town of Port Elizabeth had grown to about 500 people and Revd Francis McClelland was appointed Colonial Chaplain.  The foundation stone for the Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin was also laid that year.  The church was finally opened for worship in 1832.

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13/03/2018
Firefly the Travel Guy

Wild Coast lighthouses – Cape Morgan Lighthouse

The Wild Coast isn't called the Wild Coast for nothing.  It may be paradise but it can get rough out there if it wants.  So with that in mind, it's nogal strange that there are only three lighthouses (some websites say four but I'm not sure which the 4th one is) along this whole piece of coastline, Cape Morgan in the South, M'bashe roughly in the middle and Cape Hermes at Port St Johns in the North.  Out of the three…

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07/03/2018
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Looking up the Campanile

I wonder how many people visiting the Campanile look up before entering and think to themselves, "Self, how am I ever going to climb all those steps to get up there without dying?" Yes, there are 204 steps, but if you take it easy, visit every level and don't think about it too much, you'll be at the top before you'll know it.  Or just take the lift if it's working.  But ascending the Campanile with the lift just isn't…

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06/03/2018
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Wine made in PE

I'm not much of a wine drinker, but I do enjoy tasting wine.  Here I'm tasting one of Port Elizabeth's own wines, proudly produced at the Theescombe Estate Wine Farm.

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01/03/2018
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Under the freeway

Strand Street under the Settlers Freeway isn't really a place where many of Port Elizabeth's suburban inhabitants wander but if you do you'll encounter interesting scenes, vendors and shops that you won't really find anywhere else. The painting on the freeway support pillar is one of a series of colourful and evocative portraits that depict young South Africans from a range of cultural backgrounds.  It forms part of Route 67 and is called IDENTITIES.

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27/02/2018
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The Great Fish Point Lighthouse – finally visited

I have driven between Port Elizabeth and East London so many times over the years yet the Great Fish Point Lighthouse has always just been a dot on the coastline some distance away.  The reason? Word has always been that the track up to the lighthouse is terrible and my Polo isn't quite high clearance nor 4x4.  A little while ago a fellow blogger posted about the lighthouse and I asked what the road was like. "Not a problem, you'll…

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26/02/2018
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A wine farm in PE?

Everybody knows the Winelands in the Western Cape based around Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek. Then there is the rapidly developing Plettenberg Bay Wine Route.  But did you know Port Elizabeth also have a wine farm?  The Theescombe Estate Wine Farm is located on a 2-hectare smallholding in the Theescombe on the western side of Port Elizabeth.  It's not quite a big commercial wine operation yet, but they do make wine and sell it from the farm.  But why is it…

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23/02/2018