PE : Donkin Heritage Trail

The information center at the Donkin Reserve and Lighthouse sells a booklet at for R30 called “The Donkin Heritage Trail & Richmond Hill Trail”. 
The Donkin Heritage Trail is a walking tour and includes 51 historical sights in Port Elizabeth.  It is best to do the trail in a group.  I am not sure what the distance is but the duration of the trail depends on your own pace.  It can be shortened by leaving out some of the sights or by driving parts of the route by car. 

We did not walk very fast and went inside some of the buildings, museums and churches.  We also tried to read the information about each site while visiting and took a lot of photos.  We started at about 9:00 and when we reach sight no 37 at about 14:00 my camera’s battery died.  We then decided to have a relaxing afternoon and continue with the rest of the walking tour on the next day. We started at 9:00 the next day and finished at about 11:30.

This was a great way to see most of the historical sight in Port Elizabeth.  The book has lots of information about each place and includes a map of the route.  The route is also marked with blue lines on the pavement but it is not maintained and at some places no lines are visible.

Here are pictures of some of the sights.  I will write in more detail about some of the sights in my next few posts.
Campanile
Drill Hall

Fort Frederick
Castle Hill Houses

The Cenotaph
The Horse Memorial
USEFUL INFORMATION:
Donkin Visitor Information Centre
Address:                       Donkin Reserve Lighthouse Building, Belmont Terrace, Port Elizabeth
Website:                       www.nmbt.co.za
Phone no:                     +27 41 585 8884
Visiting Hours:              Monday – Friday:             08:00 - 16:30
                                      Saturday - Sunday:           09:30 - 15:30
(Not a sponsored post)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eyewitness Travel Guides – A Book Review

Image
  Last month I wrote a book review and I enjoyed it.   Today I want to share some more of my favourite travel books.   DK Eyewitness Travel Guides I bought my first travel guide in 2008. I was planning a trip with my friend Lelanie to London and Europe.   While planning the trip I bought the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Europe and I paid R 282.00 for it.   Except for my university textbooks, this was the most expensive book I have ever bought for myself.    We were doing a Contiki Tour and visited 7 countries.   I studied the information in guide the about the cities we would visit.    I made lists of places I want to see and then looked for more information about them.   In the end I did not take the guide with me (the 800 pages was just to heavy to carry along) but packed all my lists to use.  At Departures at Cape Town Airport in 2008 My second guide was for the same trip.   The Eyewitness Trave...
Read more

Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê

Image
   Weather vane on the VGK Church in Carnarvon    This photo made me think of a song we used to sing as kids.    It is a traditional Afrikaans song about the rooster on top of the church. The words of the song and its translation: Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower Dis die haan, Dis die haan It’s the rooster, It’s the rooster Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower More about all the churches and other buildings we saw in Carnarvon in the next post.
Read more

Dutch Reformed Mother Church, George

Image
One of my favourite sights in George is the white Dutch Reformed Mother Church with the beautiful Outeniqua Mountain as background.   I have many memories of visiting this church: On a history class trip when I was about 10, for a art class when I was about 13, for my cousins wedding in 2004, for her baby’s christening a few years later and many other times.   But most of all I like seeing this church every time we drive through town.   The cornerstone for the church was laid on 14 April 1832.   Slaves were used for some of the building work like the digging of the six-foot deep by five-foot wide foundations.   Due to financial problems it took 12 years to complete the church and it was consecrated in 9 October 1842.  The church is a National Heritage Site. On 13 September 1905 disaster struck when the church tower collapsed.   The wood rotted from water damage and lead to the walls weakening.   After a lot of rain for two days t...
Read more