Recently one of our readers, Alan, kindly invited us to visit the Algoa Bay Yacht Club and take photos there. Well, we took him up on his offer yesterday, and had a wonderful time, snapping a ridiculous amount of photos (yachts and water are SO photogenic!) So over the coming weeks you will no doubt see many shots from that sunset cruise. To start us off, here is the yacht club seen behind some of its residents!
A PE scene which greets one on arrival into town from the main Settlers Freeway always arouses mixed feelings in me. On the left is a lovely sweeping view of the city and harbour across a sweep of the bay, and to the right is the North End Prison, overlooking a graveyard! This view has always struck me as particularly gloomy. I have been wanting to capture the mood of this for a while now, and Sunday presented the perfect…
The International Red Cross has an office in Port Elizabeth. As with many businesses around the inner city, the premises have their share of protection against crime. I thought they made quite a statement, as they appear next to this sculpture in their front courtyard, showing the work of the Red Cross in helping the sick and injured. Sort of a graphic depiction of good versus evil and all that! P.S. bc of chicago dp has given us a "you…
Another view of the ruins of St Peters Church in South End. In order to stop the displaced members of the congregation returning to worship there, after the forced removal of the South End residents, the apartheid government demolished the church. Though there are a lot of townhouse developments around the St Peters, the remains of the church will be retained as a testimony to past injustices.
Just the other day I mentioned the old Tramways Building, the historical landmark in the heart of the Port Elizabeth city centre, and lamented how run down it has become.Well it was announced on Wednesday that the Municipality has awarded Pambili Developments (Pty) Ltd the tender to redevelop the Tramways building. The development will contain a mix of tourism, leisure, entertainment and office space. The construction will begin in April 2008.The Tramways redevelopment project will be managed by Mandela Bay…
In PEs early days, it was the major port for the export of hugely popular ostrich feathers. The ostrich industry was thriving, and a huge hall was built close to the harbour at which the feathers were auctioned. Over the years the industry declined, and the hall was used for concerts and other public gatherings. When we moved here in the late 70's we went to a Janis Ian concert there (remember Fly too High, and at 17?), at that…
We have started a new City Daily Photo Blog. It is called St Francis Daily Photo. St Francis is about 100km west of Port Elizabeth, and is a delightful little coastal village (well 2 actually.) As we adore the place and spend lots of time there, and have TONS of photos, and as there are so few places in Africa represented in the community, we thought we would go for it, so pop across and see what a stunning little…
A ship is brought into the harbour at sunrise, to the right you can see one of the two tugs which shepherd it into its berth.
This view of the Baakens Valley shows a few interesting historic features. On the left you see a few graves on the road verge, beyond the shadow of the large building. These belong to Muslim members of the old South End Community, mentioned when we showed you the Pier Street Mosque. Inside the walled St Mary's Graveyard to the far left were the Christian members of the community (again the strange segregation of bodies...)To the right is a building which…
This is an exhibit in the fascinating Red Location museum. It shows anti apartheid posters which were circulated when the restrictions were at their worst, anyone found with one of these would have been in for a very bad time! The books on the little tables are transcripts of the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with the intention of bringing into the open the atrocities committed during the apartheid era. They make very…