Lu-Gerda's Travels

After visiting St Mary’s Cemetery we walked across the street to take photos of the Pier Street Mosque with its green walls and tower.   Then we drove around in the South End and saw the Rudolph Street Mosque as well as the ruins of St Peter’s Anglican Church. Pier Street Mosque or Masjied-ul-Aziz This mosque was officially opened in July 1901.   The Group Areas Act would have destroyed the mosque in the 1960’s but with the help of the United Nations it was saved.   The municipality then tried to build a freeway over the mosque and the dome had to be removed.   The matter was taken to Parliament and they decided to change the route of the freeway.   The mosque survived and is still in use today. Rudolph Street Mosque or Masjied-Ul-Abraar This mosque was built by Imam Jalaludien Abrahams and his trustees and was completed in 1894.   This mosque (known as the Mosque of Righteousness) also escaped demolition by the Group Areas Act and is sti...

We spend the morning walking the Richmond Hill Trail in Port Elizabeth.   We then returned to the guesthouse to relax for a while before going to the St Mary’s Cemetery. I learned about this old cemetery form the Port Elizabeth Daily Photo Blog . The cemetery was not in a very good condition when we visited.   It was dirty with homeless people sleeping between the graves.   There are even some “houses” built between the graves with plastic attached to the gravestones.   We decided not to go in to deep. The old graves were neglected and vandalized.   It is impossible to read the inscriptions on some of the graves.  Some of the graves are from the original 1820 British Settlers.  It is sad that such historical graves are neglected and disrespected in this way. The most interesting grave we found was the grave Victoria Cross winner of Sgt James Craig.  The writing on the grave wa...

On 17 June 2008 we had an early breakfast and 7:45 we were on the bus ready to go to Austria.   It was raining again and we drove pass lovely snow covered Alps.   When we crossed the border into Austria our tour guide played some music from “The Sound of Music” movie.   We stopped at a lake to take some photos and continued further into Austria. At 10:30 we reached the starting point of the white water rafting excursion.   We decided not to take part because it was raining and cold.   We dropped the people who were going rafting and then drove to the end point.   There was not much to do.   We had some food (Country baguette) and drank an Austrian cool drink called Almdudler while waiting for the rafters.   At 13:15 we were on the road again.   Our next stop was at 14:20 at the Swarovski Crystal World .   We went to the museum with its interesting entrance and strange displays.   We saw the lar...

Here are some more of the buildings we saw on the Richmond Hill Trail in Port Elizabeth on 27 April 2012.  Corner Shops  There use to be a lot of small shops in this area for the housewives who had to do shopping on foot.   Some still remain like C L Jones Grocer. Masonic Lodge This was the hall of the first Masonic Lodge of the Scottish Constitution in PE and the foundation stone was laid on 17 June 1899.   Raleigh Street Synagogue The Synagogue was built in 1912 for the Jewish Settlers from Eastern Europe and Russia.   Today it is a museum of Jewish history. Dutch Reformed Church The church was built in 1876 as the Edwards Memorial Church but was bought in 1921 by the Dutch Reformed Church.   The tower was added in 1948. Russel Road Cemeteries  Three cemeteries were granted on this piece of land: -          In 1838 to the Union Congregational Church; -   ...

On our third day in Port Elizabeth we decided to do another walking trail, The Richmond Hill Trail.   The information about this trail is in the same booklet as the Donkin Heritage Trail .   This trail is a bit shorter and the sights are closer together. We did this walk on Friday 27 April.   It was a public holiday in South Africa and the streets were empty and the neighbourhoods quiet.   We could take our time to see the houses and read about the history of each site while walking around.   The weather was not great but at least it did not rain. I have already written about some of the sights in this tour like the Charmouth and Sherlock Street Terrace Houses .   Here is some more of the sights we saw on this tour. Victoria Memorial Home  This building was opened in 1903 as a home for destitute aged women and was named in memory of Queen Victoria.   It is now used by the PE College. The Port Elizabeth Ladies' Benevolent Society Co...

After visiting Hofbräuhaus, Max-Joseph-Platz and Odeonsplatz we continued with Mike’s Bike Tour of Munich: White Rose Memorial This is a monument for a group of students who formed the “White Rose Movement” and distributed leaflets against the Nazi’s during the Second World War. The members of the group was arrested and executed in 1943. Hofgarten We then had to go through the Hofgarten.   The garden for the palace was began in 1613 and was completed in 1617.   We were not allowed to ride the bikes through the garden and had to get of and walk.   We walked pass the the hofgartentemple or Temple of Diana.   Englischer Garten   & Beer garden The Englischer Garten is a big park in Munich and in the park is the second largest beer garden in Germany with seets for 8000 people.   We rode our bikes pass the Eisbach or Ice stream with the artificial waterfall and also saw the Chinesisher Turm.   We stopped for a drink and something to ea...