Jozi or Egoli or Joburg

Sandton City

Johannesburg also known as Jozi or Egoli which means Gold - because it was discovered there. Jozi is the largest city in South Africa and the provincial capital of Gauteng.  I've been living in Johannesburg for a period of 5 months over the last year in Hydro Executive Apartments in Sandton.  A high crime rate in downtown Joburg caused many corporate offices to move from Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD) to Sandton in the 1990s.  Sandton is a wealthy area and has become the new financial centre of South Africa and Johannesburg's premier business centre.  The name Sandton comes from a combination of its two suburbs, Sandown and Bryanston.  One of the main attractions in Sandton is "Sandton City", which ranks amongst the largest shopping centres in Africa, with Nelson Mandela Square in the centre.


Must see places and things to do in Jozi:


Shopping Malls: Sandton City, Melrose Arch, Hyde Park, Morningside Mall, Benmore Gardens, Killarney Mall, Village Walk, Rosebank Mall, 44 Stanley Street


Restaurants: Signature Restaurant, DW Eleven-13, Tashas, Pigalle, George's on 4th, Nice on 4th, Central One Bar and restaurant, Piccolo Mondo, The Grillhouse, Wang Thai, Burnside cafe, Cape Town Fish Market, The Green Peppercoen, Pomodoro Ristorante, Saxon, Wall Street Restaurant, The Palazzo Montecasino, Butcher Shop and Grill, Homebase

Afternoon tea: The Patisserie (Illovo), Michaelangelo Hotel, Westcliff Hotel, Fournos Bakery

Museums: The Apartheid Museum, Mandela House, Hector Pietersen Musuem, National Museum of Military History 

Apartheid Museum

Nelson Mandela's House

Bars: The Polo Lounge (Westcliff), The Whiskey Bar (Southern Sun Hyde Park), The Conservatory (Hyatt Regency)

Clubs:  Taboo (Sandton), Hush (Rosebank)

Other places of interest: Lion Safari park, Johannesburg Zoo, Gold Reef City, African Craft Market, Central Business District (CBD), Sandton Convention Centre

African Craft Market

Lion Safari Park

Churches: Rosebank Union Church, Rivers Church, His People Church, City Life Church, Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG)

Favourite Suburbs: Sandton, Sandown, Sandhurst, Parkhurst, Bryanston, Hyde Park

Worst Suburbs: CBD, Hillbrow, Yeoville

Me and CBD in the background

Johannesburg International Motor Show @ Expo Centre

Sun City

We decided to do a day trip on Boxing day to Sun City.  I've heard a lot about Sun City but didn't really know what to expect.  The journey should have taken 2 hours from Johannesburg but we took an "R" road and ended up in traffic.  The traffic was mainly at the crossing of the Bronkhorstspruit Dam -  a beautiful nature reserve.

The Entertainment Centre

Valley of Waves

Sun city is a casino and holiday resort located in Rustenberg on the border of Pilansberg Game Reserve.  It has four hotels, a golf course, casinos, a games entertainment centre, a theatre, a water park called the Valley of Waves in the Lost City (linked to the entertainment centre by the Bridge of Time), Waterworld and many restaurants.  We visited only 2 hotels, the Cascades and the Sun City hotel -not overly impressed.  I think Sun City is great for children and gamblers in particular.  It reminded me a lot of Las Vegas but instead, very tacky and not well maintained, which is a shame. I've heard the Palace hotel is very nice but we didn't get a chance to explore it.  It also wasn't the best day to visit Sun city because it rained cats and dogs! 

The Cascades Hotel

We had dinner at The Fishmonger in the Entertainment centre and drinks at the Cascade Hotel bar.  It took us 2 hours to drive back on the national motorway/highway, which was much better.  Overall, it was a pleasant day.

Durban

On a public holiday weekend, we did a road trip to Durban.  It seemed everyone also had the same idea.  We tried to leave as early as possible at 7am to avoid traffic but we still encountered a bit on our way, especially some breakdowns.  It was a very beautiful scenic drive across the amazing country of South Africa. With a couple of stops on the way for loo breaks and petrol, we made it in roughly 7 hours! too long! (and I wasn't even driving) :-(

Durban is in the province of Kwazulu-natal - the largest city in South Africa (SA).  Its also has the busiest port in SA and is a major centre for tourism because of it's sub-tropical climate and vast sandy beaches.

We stayed at the Hilton hotel on the executive floor which was pretty functional and close to most things.  It was virtually impossible to visit the beachfront during the day because of the crowds because of the public holiday - so rowdy and too many people, the roads were even closed off.  We were fortunate to take a walk along the promenade of the Golden mile (OR Tambo parade) with 4miles of hotels along the beachfront, restaurants and shops, amusement parks, cable cars, paddling pools (very filthy), arts and crafts sellers, ice-cream parlours and piers.  It also has a lot of art deco and Victorian architecture very similar to Ocean drive in Miami.

We started off on Florida road with all the trendy bars and restaurants where it seems all thy hype trendy young people hang out - like us! :-)  We had lunch at the Spiga D'oro, a rustic Italian restaurant.

Ile Maurice 

The Suncoast Casion and Entertainment world is situated in the northern end of the Golden mile (also very art deco).  The complex houses a casino, restaurants, cinema, bars, and a semi-private beach which we didnt see :-(  Its a great centre for young adults to hang out.  We had dinner at the Havana Grill which was not a Cuban restaurant, the name is very misleading, it was actually a steak house, with some Cuban cigars and Che Guevara photos - very confusing!

Umhlanga beach

The Lighthouse

We spent most of our time in the Umhlanga Rocks, which is a resort town which merges with Durban North.  It has a paved beachfront walkway for roughly 2 miles.  The sandy beach is dominated by a red-and white lighthouse. It is known as a fast-growing upper income town with timeshare resorts, hotels such as Beverly Hills (I know!), restaurants and cafes.  We went to a highly recommended restaurant called Ile Maurice which is a family owned French Mauritian restaurant with great food and warm service by the owner. We also ate at the Bangkok wok.  We visited the Gateway Theatre of Shopping, which is a huge mall!  It's a very well planned mall with everything - lots of shops and restaurants etc.

Our drive back to Johannesburg was much faster, we had one stop for fuel and we made it back in 5 Hours and 10 minutes, yayyyy!! :-)

Cape Town CPT

We flew to Cape Town from Johannesburg on Fly Mango. Cape Town is the gateway to Western Cape, Northern Cape and Namibia.  The city is nestled between the mountain and the sea and has a spectacular landscape - mountains, coastline and natural fauna.  It's the second most populous city in South Africa (SA) and the legislative capital.  It is located on the shore of Table bay.

We stayed at the Queen Victoria hotel near the Victoria and Alfred (V&A) waterfront, its actually a new extension of the V&A hotel, a very beautiful trendy boutique hotel with great customer service.

We walked around the V&A waterfront and mall.  There were many shops and restaurants.  We had dinner at the OYO restaurant at the V&A hotel - very nice food and service.  Also at the Baia seafood restaurant, Karibu restaurant and food court.  We also took a ride on the Ferris wheel where you can see a great view of the waterfront from the top, the craft market and Nobel square which pays tribute to South African's Nobel peace prize laureates.

Also at the waterfront is the Nelson Mandela gateway to Robben island.  We visited and toured Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and many of the South African political leaders were imprisoned.  We took a ferry from the waterfront to the Island. The tour of the prison was actually conducted by an ex-political prisoner. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years in total and 25 of those years were spent on Robben Island - we were also shown his tiny cell - horrific!

We drove from Cape town through amazing scenery to the beautiful winelands of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, about 28km from Cape Town, known for quality wines and surroundings.  Stellenbosch is one of the oldest towns in SA next to Cape Town.  Franschhoek, located between two mountains, is known for quality French food and wine culture adopted by the Huguenots who settled there over 300 years ago.  I personally prefer Franschhoek to Stellenbosch.  You can feel the hsitory walking down the Main street with the Huguenot memorial monument at one end of the street.  The shops on the street are historic in themselves and have very interesting architecture.  There are artworks, restuarants and antiques shops on the streets and churches.  The main highlight on the street is the 'Le Quartier Francais' one of the 50 best restaurants of the world for several years.  We tried to get a reservation in their Tasting room but of course it was fully booked until next year :-(

Just when we thought we wouldn't be able to go up to the top of Table Mountain on this visit because it had been windy for several days and it was closed, we finally got a chance on our last day.  Table Mountain has now been declared as one of the world's natural wonders.  We took the 5 minute ascent by cable car to the top of the mountain where we could see a spectacular 360 degree view of Cape Town, the ocean and the neighbouring peaks, roughly over a thousand metres above the city.  Table mountain is also a national park  and a world heritage site, so at the top we were able to see different creatures, vegetation etc.


We also got to see other parts of Cape Town such as the central business district and Long street with the museums, walks in The Company's Garden, shops/markets, theatres, parks etc.  The beaches such as Camps bay and the Castle of Good Hope.  We visited The One and only hotel resort where we had drinks at the Vista bar & lounge and dinner at Reuben's restaurant and also the Table bay hotel.

Pretoria or Tshwane?

Finally in South Africa!  Been meaning to visit for a while, even missed the world cup last year :-(

Pretoria

Anyway, we're going to be in South Africa (SA) for a while, and we're staying in Johannesburg.  We're planning to visit as many places as possible whilst here, starting with Pretoria.

Pretoria is a city situated in the northern province of Gauteng, and serves as the administrative capital.  Pretoria is also referred to as 'Tshwane' which is the proposed name change that still hasn't been decided.  Quite a few name changes took places after the end of Apartheid, example is the Johannesburg airport which is now known as the O.R Tambo International Airport.  Pretoria is also the Jacaranda city, due to the thousands of Jacaranda trees planted along streets, in parks and gardens.

Paul Kruger

We started off our visit along Church street and at Church square where there's the Paul Kruger statue ( a scary looking man if I must say, he was the State President of the SA Republic (Transvaal) and was the face of the Boer war).  The square is surrounded with great architectural buildings.  It was also a busy day at the square park, with quite  a few people having picnics (it seems to be a traditional here as well as braai; it was also the Nigerian independence weekend).

Union Buildings

Then we visited Union Buildings at the top of the hill designed by Sir Herbert Baker, is the administrative headquarters of Government.  It is best remembered as the site of former President Nelson Mandela's inauguration.  We couldn't resist the lure of the National Zoological garden which was also in Pretoria.  It turned out to be alot of fun.  Its actually a huge parkland with an impressive collections of animals e.g. Lions, Giraffes, Elephants, Flamingos, Rhinos, Hippos etc.

We tried to visit Freedom's park, built to commemorate South Africa's political and cultural heritage but it was closed and we haven't had a chance to go back. We were able to visit the Voortrekker Monument, a huge granite structure located on the hill and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers (Afrikaans and Dutch for pioneer or fore-trekkers) who left Cape colony between 1835 and 1854.  They were mostly farmers who had a general dissatisfaction of life under British rule in the Cape and desired a better life in a better country.

Slightly outside of Pretoria is an amazing Victorian colonial mansion built by Sammy Marks, who was a business tycoon at the time but originally from Lithuania - he came to SA to make his fortune.  He married an English woman called Bertha and they had eight children.  Bertha designed the house exactly like a typical home in the UK durint that perios with refined Victorian living exquisite furniture, porcelain, paintings and silver.  Sammy Marks declared in his will that the house with its contents are to be preserved for four generations after the day he died.  The house has been turned into a museum and its interior is preserved intact and wholly authentic.  They also offer picnics on the lawns of the estate.  We had a picnic there and were given a pcinic basket with goodies and blankets and pillows - a beautiful day!

A real find in Pretoria was the Prue Leith's Training academy's (Odd Plate) restaurant.  It was truly "an evening of epicurean elegance"!  We had a four course meal, the food was amazing (taste of perfection), the service (all students) was remarkable, the ambience was splendid (including the terrace for drinks) - need I say more?  

Sammy Marks Museum

Me!

Picnic @ Sammy Marks