Travel Blog

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Award and Red Location Museum

Ok, this just wouldn't be a city daily blog if I didn't show you this morning's newspaper headline.....I mean that is quite an achievement for a town whose nickname was, until recently, the ghost on the coast!In the 50s and 60s PE developed as the hub of the SA motor industry (very punny),but in the late 70s many of the motor manufacturers and parts manufactures relocated, and the city went through a terrible economic depression. When we came here to…

3 Comments
11/12/2007
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Corner Pub

This is a friendly little pub round the corner from us in Richmond Hill, where the locals hang out, watch sport and generally talk rubbish.... in other words like many pubs the world over! It serves good meals at really affordable prices, and for those of us who don't enjoy hanging out in other people's recycled cigarette smoke, the bonus is that everything on the menu is also available as take aways.

6 Comments
10/12/2007
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Places of Worship #3 .. South End Mosque

Last week I briefly mentioned South End in Port Elizabeth, when I showed the ruin of the old St Peters Church. It used to be a thriving racially mixed community, with blacks, whites, coloureds, Indians and Chinese all living harmoniously together. Muslims, Christians and Hindus all had their places of worship near each other, and there was a great sense of community about the place.That is, until the Apartheid travesty of the Group Areas Act was passed, and in the…

5 Comments
09/12/2007
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Misty Morning Sunrise

Shark Rock Pier, early morning last winter, chilly but worth it! Standing on the pier looking out across the sea, the sun struggling to break through the mist. Turning to look the other way, and we see part of the beachfront, with the remains of the mist hovering over it. The red roofs are from the Courtyard Hotel. Water droplets from the moist air have gathered on the wooden railings of the Pier.A magical morning, followed by a hearty breakfast…

11 Comments
07/12/2007
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gone fishin’

Well, we thought, after the recent spate of buildings we've shown, it would be an idea to get some fresh air away from the city centre, anyone care for a beach outing? (It is SO hard to stick to one photo a day....sometimes it just seems right to add a few and show a place in its context! Today is one of those days.)This is the Maitlands River Mouth, one of our favourite scenic and fishing spots on the outskirts…

8 Comments
06/12/2007
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Art Nouveau

Yesterday it was Art Deco, today Art Nouveau.... this is one of the old original buildings in Main Street, where the city first developed. It is now called Govan Mbeki Avenue, after our current President's father. There are still a few of these gems, surrounded by some rather nasty high rises built after the middle of last Century. (It still feels weird to think of the years I was born and growing up as 'the middle of LAST Century', makes…

5 Comments
05/12/2007
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another era….

Ok, you are getting a bonus post today because I have been experimenting with altering the picture size, and YAY YIPPEE YAY, thanks to much help from Fenix of Bostonscapes, (who apparently also never sleeps!) it works! So treat this as a sort of TV test pattern......... THANKS FENIX!!!!This lovely old Art Deco building in Central is one of the few old and interesting ones which has not been allowed to fall into disrepair by uncaring landlords, who own many…

8 Comments
04/12/2007
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it was a dark and stormy night………

Last Sunday, a storm blew over. I was trying to capture the lightning, which is unusual in PE, where our rain tends to be of the drizzly cold variety rather than heavy and tropical, but kept missing it. However, the gale force winds can be seen by the way the trees blurred during the time exposure, while the rest remained steady. Because this picture is wide, it has reduced a lot on blogger, and I am still trying to figure…

2 Comments
04/12/2007
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Places of Worship #2

The remains of the old St Peters Church in South End.This was a vibrant area with many races living happily together side by side. During the Apartheid era, in one of the many inhumane decisions taken at that time, it was demolished and the people relocated to racially divided areas. It is now covered with modern townhouse complexes, which surround this ruin.

5 Comments
02/12/2007
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December Theme: Bridges

This is the Bridge Shopping Mall, built in the 80's, which forms a bridge over a major arterial road leading down to the Northern Areas of PE. If you click and enlarge, you will see the name emblazoned on the building, and a bus which has just driven through under it. The cars travelling left to right are on the Old Cape Road, which used to be the main road to Capetown , until the freeway was completed about 40…

28 Comments
01/12/2007