St Peters

I recently started Geocaching, so you may just hear me mention it every now and then as it gets me to be out and about a bit more than usual.  One of the places I found a cache was at the St Peters Church ruins in South End.  The church was opened in 1877.  After the people of the area were removed due to the Group areas Act in the late 1960's the church was demolished to stop the congregation coming…

2 Comments

Temple peacocks

Do you ever wonder where the peacocks around the St Georges Hospital and Settlers Park come from? How did they get there in the first place?  I have to be honest and say that I have never really thought about it until I recently visited the Shri Siva Subramanier Aulayam Temple in Upper Valley Road next to the Baakens Valley.  Peacocks are associated with the Hindu faith in various ways while the temple has a number of permanent peacock residents.  The…

1 Comment

Freeway graffiti

This rather angry looking, Mickey Mouse dress-a-like (and going by the description is also famously dead) character sits on the side of the Settles Freeway close to its end in South End.  I've Googled and surfed the net a bit but couldn't find anything remotely related to him so I have no idea who or what he is. 

2 Comments

Dias Park

I wonder how many Port Elizabethans know that the grass area next to the Green Mosque in South End is called Bartholomeo Dias Park.  Perhaps you didn't know it but have seen the stone with the granite plaque?  The plaque contains the information of Dias' voyage. 

1 Comment

Unfinished freeway

The freeway off ramp on Settlers Freeway which goes nowhere.  In yesterday's post on the Green Mosque I mentioned that the mosque was due to be demolished according to the Groups Areas Act and that they wanted a freeway off ramp to run across the land.  This is how close they got to doing it.

4 Comments

The Green Mosque

Residents of Port Elizabeth all know the green mosque next to the Settlers Freewat.  The Masjied-Ul-Aziz, also known as as the Pier Street Mosque or Green Mosque, was officially opened in July 1901.  The mosque was destined to be destroyed by the declaration of the Group Areas Act to make way for a freeway off ramp, but the matter went to the United Nations where Islamic countries prevented its destruction.  The mosque remains in daily use as a place of…

2 Comments

South End Walk flowers

September is Tourism month and on the second Saturday of September a group of about 40 people went on a guided walk around the South End Museum Heritage Trail organised by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism.  I found this patch of fygies growing next to the road close to the green mosque.  I dashed down to get a picture of the group passing it in the background and with my somewhat slow camera only got one shot before they had past.  Pity…

1 Comment

Shri Krishna Temple

I've driven past the Shri Siva Subramanier Aulayam Temple in Upper Valley Road many many times but only got to go inside for the first time not too long ago.  The temple was built between 1893 and 1901 by the Hindu community and was consecrated in 1901.  The complex actually has more than one temple with the one in the picture being the Shri Krishna Temple which was erected in memory of JV Valayden in 1961.  The guy who was supposed to…

3 Comments

Church ruin

Seeing that I've done a couple of posts promoting the events organised by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism for Tourism Month, I thought to do just one more. People tend to immediately know what you're talking about when you mention District 6 in Cape Town, but very few actually know that South End in Port Elizabeth has a very similar history.  South End has a number of heritage sites which are connected together by the South End Museum Heritage Trail.  One of the sites the…

1 Comment