Lu-Gerda's Travels

In July 2012 my husband had to go to Port Elizabeth for business and we decided too make it a day trip.   We stayed over at my parents in George on the Friday night and left early on Saturday morning.   PE is about 322 km from George and we had a nice drive.   We stopped for breakfast at Stormsriver. After the business was done we drove to the Cape Recife Lighthouse.   The lighthouse is in the Cape Recife Nature Reserve.   It was built in 1851 to warn mariners of Thunderbolt Reef.   It is 24m high and is built on a rock foundation.   Unfortunately the lighthouse was being renovated.   Next we drove back to the city to the Donkin Reserve.   Earlier in the year we visited also visited the Donkin reserve and I wrote about the pyramid and the Hill Lighthouse .        This time we came to see the flag. This is the highest flagpole in South Africa and is 60 meters high.   It is also the home of the largest ...

Our last stop in Port Elizabeth on Saturday 28 April was the Shark Rock Pier.   I wanted to go for a walk on the pier since we arrived 2 days earlier but we waited for better weather.   It was our last day in PE and we decided to go for a walk even if there was an awful wind blowing (at least it wasn’t raining) Shark Rock Pier was built in 1990 to help save the beaches from erosion and it was successful.   It is also a wonderful tourist attraction.   The pier is 137m long and there are senic view of the city and the beachfront.   In the photo below you can see the old slipway at Humewood Beach.   Before the harbour was built boats sailed in between the pillars and were then pulled onto the slipway for boat repairs.

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...

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...