SAM posts pre Firefly

This is a multi-tasking tower. It is a bell tower, a monument, and a clock tower. This latter function was not working too well until recently, as the clocks had stopped. Because watchmakers are becoming a very rare breed, and maintaining large clocks like this is an expensive business, the City Council battled to sort out the problem. Luckily the funds and expertise finally came together and the clocks are now running like.... well.... clockwork! Here is the mechanism that…

Back at the Campanile, no longer looking outwards, but upwards. We were very lucky to be allowed into the bell tower, so we can share with you views which few people have seen.The Campanile boasts 23 bells, the most in any tower in South Africa (the next one in Gauteng has 10). It is an extremely tight fit up there, even trying to stitch pictures together is impossible, so we can't really show them all, but they are lovely. I…

We are still at the top of the Campanile, but looking south today towards Humewood. This freeway is a "monument" to bad town planning and there has been talk of decommisioning it, in favour of renewing the CBD. (Parts of it just hang in space, ending abruptly, because the planners took it for granted that the mosques that were in its path would be demolished, along with the rest of the South End area, in an Apartheid blitz. But spirited…

After climbing the 204 steps to the top of the Campanile, aside from being out of breath, you get a great 360 degree view of the city.This is the Westerly view, looking towards the Donkin Reserve. Prominent Port Elizabeth landmarks, from the left are: the Edward Hotel; the lighthouse, which is no longer in use; the memorial to Elizabeth Donkin (after whom Port Elizabeth is named), wife of Sir Rufane Donkin, who administered the then colony from 1820 to 1821;…