Lu-Gerda's Travels

I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by.   It has been ages since my last post.   And even if it is almost a month to late I want to tell you about our Remembrance Day. We decided to attend the annual service at the Cenotaph at the Point.   The MOTH Blaize Away Shellhole organizes the service.   The people of Mossel Bay erected the Cenotaph with private funds in remembrance of the residents who lost their lives in First World War.   It was unveiled on 28 September 1928 and since then the names residents who died in other wars were added. The service on Sunday 10 November 2013 was started by a short message by a reverend and then a speech by the Mayor of Mossel Bay.   The honor list with all the names on the cenotaph was read and then “The Last Post” was played and the wreaths were laid. It was a good service with more people attending then I expected.   It was very warm and next time I will go better prepa...

Hello everyone.   It has been a while since my last post.  Mossel Bay is cold, rainy and windy today and the perfect weather to stay inside.  So time to write a post and then catch up on my blog reading as well. Mossel Bay (14 Sep 2013) I still need to write posts about some of the places we visited:   More about walking in my hometown George in January;   Our visit to Stellenbosch in March;  A visit to Oudtshoorn in August; and   A post or two about the Company Gardens in Cape Town from my visit in 2009 But before I can start with all those places, one more post about the beautiful Swellendam. We loved walking around in the town.  We were looking for the buildings on the map we received from the tourism office but we also saw other pretty houses along the way. BIBLIOTHECA READING ROOM & MARTIN VERSVELD GARDEN We walked in Moolman Street to see the three Heritage Houses when we found this building with its ...

Our trip to Carnarvon was unplanned and we did not know much about the town.   We visited the churches and then walked and drove around in the town. In 1907 a hall was built for the Dutch Reformed Church.   It was also used as community hall until the new community center was built in 1973.   The hall is now used by the Carnarvon Museum.   Like most museums in South Africa it was closed on Sunday and we could only see the outside of the hall. Next to the hall was an interesting hut.   It is called a corbelled house but we had no idea what the hut was used for or who built it.   Back home I learned that the Trekboers (nomadic farmers) built these small domed roofed houses between 1811 and 1815.   Due to the lack of wood the roof was also built using flat stones.   The stones in the roof were used as “scaffolding” while building the house and to reach the roof for repairs.   The corbelled house was moved there from the farm Briesi...

After visiting the Dutch Reformed Church in Heidelberg we walked across the street to the St Barnabas Anglican Church.   A worker opened the church for us and we quickly walked through the inside.   I could not find any information about the church on the internet but here are some photos.     Walking back towards the Dutch Reformed Church we saw a monument.   This monument was erected in memory of the men who died in Heidelberg during a fight in the Anglo Boer War on 13 September 1901.   We then went back to the car and drove around in the town.   We saw the Doornboom Homestead  and other old buildings.   It was almost time for lunch and we decided to drive towards Riverdale to get some food.

Graaff-Reinet has a lot of monuments .   We tried to visit most of them.   I wrote about the Gideon Scheepers Monument  and the War Memorial  in previous posts.   We also visited the following monuments.   (I added the addresses at the end of the post because we had trouble finding some of them) Anglo Boer War Monument This monument is in a residential area and looks like it is in the backyard of a house. From the tourist office map the exact location is not clear and we had some trouble to find it.   The marble monument was erected in the memory of the fallen in the war for freedom, The Anglo Boer War, of 1899 to 1902. On the sides are bible scriptures in Dutch and the names those who were executed in Graaff-Reinet. It is a beautiful and moving monument but sadly the rifle was vandalized. Huguenot Monument This is a small monument erected behind the Town Hall in memory of the French Huguenot’s that came to South Africa in 16...

This beautiful memorial is in the square in front of the Town Hall.   The memorial of a bronze figure of the “victory Peace Angel” is mounted on a pedestal in the square.   It was erected in 1918 and has the names of the men from Graaff-Reinet who died during World War I.   The names of men who died in World War II were added on a later plaque.   I really enjoyed taking photos of the angel on the war memorial.   It stands between two beautiful buildings (Behind the Dutch Reformed Church and in front of the Town Hall) surrounded by beautiful trees and flowers.   The sun was shining very bright and made it difficult to take photos from certain angles. It is difficult to share negative information about places we visit.   I wrote and rewrote the next paragraph a few times.   Then I deleted it but changed my mind and included it in the post.   The unpleasant thing about Graaff-Reinet is the beggar...