Sunday Morning in the Port Elizabeth Harbor.

[tod2]

In December last year we flew to Port Elizabeth for a wedding. It turned out to be one of the best weekends we have had in ages.
After checking out of our hotel - more on that later - we had to find something to do before our afternoon flight home. I had spotted one or two ships in the harbor and was keen to do a Mossie visit and while away some time.
Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would enjoy our visit so much!

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These ladies were waiting for some fish - they directed us to another part of the harbor where all the activity was taking place.
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Before we left I took a few pics from the yacht basin. It is very small.

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I spotted this big fella tied up on the other side.
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But this was as far as we got.
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At last we found a pier with lots of fishing boats and a hive of activity - this is more like it!
Here a boat had just begun to off-load it's sardine catch.
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There were happy faces all round so it must have been a good haul.
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The action non-stop.




More to come on Port Elizabeth....

[bixaorellana]

Tod, this is wonderful -- can't wait for more! Trust you to come up with a really different activity to fill that portion of time.

Looking at the video I was worried about the sardines that missed the box, then saw that a worker got right down into the water to scoop them into a box.

Love the sequence of photos, especially the two of the sardine workers smiling for the camera.

[kerouac2]

Yes, the sardines are great!

I spent one night in Port Elizabeth when I was driving along the coast from Durban to Cape Town, but I did not see the port. I was in a (small) hotel downtown that I think I had selected just because it was easy to park there. I checked in and was about to go to my room when the manager came to see me. He told the personnel "this man has come all the way from Europe -- give him the best room!" And they did. Of course the best room in that particular hotel was nothing about which to gasp in awe, but it left me with a pleasant memory of Port Elizabeth.

[tod2]

Port Elizabeth is hardly recognisable to me after only about 10 years. Kerouac please look through your photos and see if you took a photo of the Campinile. It was right in front of us but I have no idea why it did not catch my eye, especially after seeing several in Venice only a few months ago!

After spending a good hour on the quayside we headed off - a last glance around and exited through another gate.

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The green mosque we saw earlier can be seen from the old shunting yards in the port.
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Through the gate and up a hill. We come across what looks like a very old cemetery.
Unfortunately there is no place to stop and investigate.
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Unexpectedly we find ourselves in the city center.
It is pretty deserted. The buildings are impressive and seem to be all administrative.

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Getting out of the city we travel through a valley which has modern factory buildings.
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We take a road up a hill and find ourselves in the suburbs. Looking across the valley we see the house belonging to the friend whose daughter's wedding we came to. Directly behind the house one can just make out the night lights of St.Georges Park cricket grounds.
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At my feet I see this creeper all over a cactus. (Trying to find out what it is.)
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Moving on...
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Time to go to the airport, which just happens to be around the corner from our gorgeous hotel.
Let me show you what you get for R2,200-00 per night in an executive double room , incl. breakfast. That is around 130 BP, or 146 euros.

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To conclude - A fireworks display in front of our room.

[bjd]

Goodness Tod! Was there a neutron bomb in Port Elizabeth? Not a soul anywhere, totally deserted streets!

Your "creeper" looks like a passion fruit plant.

[kerouac2]

There are advantages to it being abandoned, bjd. Did you notice how incredibly clean it is? And no graffiti anywhere.

Actually, I had the same impression when I was there around 1998. I think I was the only guest in the hotel as well.

[tod2]

Well in all fairness, it was very early on a Sunday morning! I think you can see the town hall clock revealing it was only 9.20 am. There were a few people about but the busiest part was the harbor - I suppose they had been fishing all night. We did notice vessels out there with fishing lights on. I thought that was to alert other vessels but thinking back to the Italian riviera in 1980, we saw little boats with bright lights pointing into the water. Now I know they were hunting squid etc. Maybe the sardines surface when they see the lights?

Port Elizabeth is fascinating in so many ways. I desperately want to go back before the end of the year or soon after we get back from Europe in September.

[mossie]

Thanks for the tour Tod, it looks to be the polar opposite of dowdy old Felixstowe.

[tod2]

Aw, I wouldn't describe Felixstowe as dowdy. I think I would love it. We all have enjoyed your photos immensely.

[tod2]

To conclude our super weekend I can't not show you just a smidgeon of the wedding.
I was in absolute awe of the bouquets. I have never see proteas as large as that.
The venue was outdoors. There was no confetti only rose petals and bubbles which were presented in little tubes.

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Still waiting for YouTube video...

[questa]

How could you put up with all those crowds jostling you about and trying to sell you stuff or pick your pockets . Such a mass of humanity to struggle through...Oh...wrong thread... 1

[tod2]

And here we are! After a superb dinner at Ginger, the restaurant inside the hotel, we settled down on our balcony and watched a 20 minute show of stunning fireworks.
And so I conclude our weekend with a bang!

[bixaorellana]

What a beautiful city, so clean & well maintained. Once you explained that it was Sunday morning, the desertion made sense.

Tod, you always know how to find the different and interesting aspects of a place, plus show such a mixture of informative & fun details from your travels. I loved seeing those Proteas.