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Framed African Sunset

For some people a sunset is a sunset is a sunset.  Just something to end the day with.  Then there are others which include photographers and travel writers (and I say writers because that goes for both print media and bloggers).  Those who grab their cameras when the sun starts to dip towards the horizon, the clouds start to colour and the most ordinary things become objects to silhouette against the changing sky.  Some photographers go on recces to find the best spot to set up their camera…

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19/11/2013
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The Donkin Mosaic Steps

Approaching the Donkin Reserve and Route 67 from the City Centre side, visitors can either walk up the Mosaic Steps or the winding Voting Queue path.  The Mosaic Steps by a group of mosaic artists are quite interesting as it starts with dark colours at the bottom and the higher you climb the lighter and more vibrant the colours get.  The steps with the different colours represents a journey that starts in the darkness and turbulence of the past, progressing to…

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19/11/2013
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History of creativity frieze

Although most people who go to see the art pieces on Route 67 just go up to the Donkin Reserve, the route actually starts down at the Campanile.  One of the first art pieces one can see when down there is the Campanile Frieze by Mkhonto Gwazela.  The frieze celebrates the indigenous heritage of Nelson Mandela Bay and the Eastern Cape through visual images cast into a curved concrete beam.

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18/11/2013
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Sunset from the lighthouse

The view from the top of the Donkin Lighthouse is my absolute favorite view in Port Elizabeth.  Combine it with a setting sun over Central and you get an even better one.

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17/11/2013
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Harbour worker

One of the Port Elizabeth Harbour tugs on her way to help a ship out the harbour

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16/11/2013
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Dias Rock at the Green Mosque

The Pier Street Mosque, or Green Mosque as many know it as, is probably one of the most recognisable places of worship in Port Elizabeth.  Not many would know though that the open space next to it is called Dias Park, named after the first European to round the Cape and discover Algoa Bay.  Bartholomeus Dias entered the Bay in 1488 and planted a stone cross on St Croix Island.  Today this rock, which has absolutely no link to Dias what so ever…

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15/11/2013
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Setting out on the Sacramento Trail

Although most people do the Sacramento Trail as a straight forward out and back along the coastal route, there are two very different routes possible.  The alternative route heads slightly inland from the cannon through fynbos before heading along the top of the vegetated sand dunes towards Sardinia Bay.

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14/11/2013
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Spinning mohair yarn

I think everybody should go on the Hinterveld Mohair Mill tour in Uitenhage at some stage.  Believe me, its really worth it.  Visitors get to see the whole process that mohair goes through from arriving in its raw form right through to where it goes out as yarn or, even better, beautiful mohair blankets.  This is one of the machines that spin the yarn from the top, with yarn often being twisted or brushed (raised) for a fluffy appearance during the process.

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13/11/2013
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Public Library facade

The Public Library across the road from City Hall and Market Square in the city centre is my absolute favourite historic building in Port Elizabeth both inside and out.  The library building was opened in 1901 and the interesting part of it was that the front facade was built in England, dismantled and brought down to Port Elizabeth in numbered blocks to be assembled in front of the building.  

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12/11/2013