Lu-Gerda's Travels

In March we went to Cape Town area for a long weekend.   During this visit we made an unplanned trip to Stellenbosch and decided to explore the town. I studied at the Stellenbosch University for four years and know parts of the town.   Like most students I did not have a lot of money, my bicycle was my only transport and it was before I bought my first digital camera.   Back then I admired the old buildings but never took the time to take photos of them or learn about their history.   This day trip was a great way to show Stellenbosch to my husband and explore learn about the town. Oak Trees in Dorp Street Governor Simon van der Stel founded the town in 1679 and he named it after himself.   The name can be translated as “(Van der) Stel’s Bush”.   The town is also known as the Eikestad or “City of Oaks” due to the many Oak trees that were planted by the residents after on the recommendation of Commissioner Van Reede tot Drakenstein. Dutch...

Hello everyone, I was very excited to visit St Mark’s Cathedral in George.  I have passed t his building in my hometown hundreds of times but have never even entered the gate.  And I knew very little about this cathedral’s history.  Then in 2012 H and I started to visit churches designed by Sophy Gray.  When I learned that St Mark’s was one of them I really wanted to visit .   We went for a walk to explore some of George’s old buildings in January this year.  (Read more here , here and here )  The church ground was open when we reached it, but visiting hours for the inside was over.  So we will have to do that on another day.   George was one of the towns where the government placed a Colonial Chaplain for the English community.  He used the Dutch Reformed church for services but in 1848 collections were started to build a church.  In February 1848 Bishop Gray arrived in the Cape.  His wife Sophy lai...

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...

I still have 2 posts left about my 2008 trip to Europe but I just cannot seem to find the right words.   So I will finish that trip later.   While thinking about what to write I discovered that I never posted my last post about our day in Heidelberg and Riversdale in December last year. We spend the morning in Heidelberg exploring the town , the Dutch Reformed Church and the Anglican Church . We then drove the 30 kilometers to Riversdale and walked around in the town. One of the highlights of the day was visiting St Matthew’s Church.   Bishop Gray visited Riversdale in 1848 and in 1850 he was offered a site for the building of a church.   The church was designed by Sophy Gray and building started in about 1854.   The cornerstone was laid on 22 November 1854.   Bishop Gray consecrated the church on 25 September 1856. We entered the church grounds through an old gate for a closer look.  ...

After spending the morning of 28 December 2012 in Heidelberg we drove the 30km to Riverdale.   Riversdale is a town along the National Road (N2) between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.   It is about 90km from our home in Mossel Bay. The town was established in 1838 when a church was started on a farm. The town is the home of “Sleeping Beauty”, a mountain peak that looks like a sleeping princess.   Unfortunately I did not take any photos of the mountain peak on our visit. The Tourism Office is in the Spur Building next to the National Road. We stopped to get some ideas of what there is to see but they could only give us a small map and not much information.   We went to eat some lunch and then drove into the town. After lunch we drove into the town and decided to explore on foot.   We started at the Dutch Reformed Church in Church Street.   The corner stone of the church was laid on 4 March 1908. We also saw s...

On our way back into town from the Gideon Scheepers Monument we drove past an old cemetery and wanted to visit.   We have visited a few other cemeteries in the Eastern Cape and most are in very bad shape due to vandalism and neglect.   This cemetery was locked with a notice on the gate with 4 places where the key could be found (including the tourism office).   I think it is a very good solution because a) the cemetery is protected and b) visitors can still access the cemetery. We fetched the key at the tourism office and went back to the cemetery.   The cemetery was in a better condition than others we have visited but the grass and weeds were growing everywhere.   We started to walk around in Block A with the oldest graves and then through the rest.   (I had an unfortunate encounter with a thorn bush and ended with my right shoe and sock full of small thorns.   A few days later I was still finding some of them in the shoes) ...