Good Morning. today, was my first morning to be up before the sunrise. My room has a view of a wall so I headed to the beach to catch some sunrise pictures. lots of activity – runners, swimmers (brrrrr) and beach cleaners.
One thing that SA towns do well is to leave the beachfront open with wide promenades and residential buildings across the road. PE has a green area with bike and running path all along the Indian Ocean for many miles. surf was up and I got a couple of nice shots of a women surfer with Lorrie’s long lens. Actually I had inquired about going to Jeffrey’s Bay for the day, a legendary surf spot. Billabong was hosting an international competition starting on Tuesday. It was just a little to far for my time frame.
So Monday was the beginning of the long trip home. I was planning to meet Bill at the Port Eliazabeth airport for our 6pm flight to Joberg. It was the nicest day weather wise of the entire trip and I tried to find a good tour that would fit my timetable and budget. I decided on a three hour “city tour” with Blunden Tours who had provided driver to Pumba the day before. This driver wasn’t much of a guide though he warmed up after a while. We saw some of the highlights of PE but there isn’t that much. It’s in a good central location and located on the Indian Ocean but it’s a ho hum city compared to other cities in SA. A few historic sites and a few vistas from higher up. Mostly a working class city, a spaghetti of elevated highways. One hour into the tour he was done more or less. He drove me past the town to see their beaches. Quite awesome, rocky, wild, rough. Indian Ocean. then a roundabout ride through the upscale gated neighborhood near the coast on the way to the airport. I would say that on my next trip I will do a better job of planning open days in cities… Joberg day tour on Tuesday was basically an expensive repeat of PE tour.
A scenic stop was Donkin Reserve which is a small park looking down on the city built by the city founder Rufane Donkin. The city was named for his wife Elizabeth who died before reaching South Africa. There is a lighthouse and a pyramid. I was intrigued by the public art created for the 2010 World Cup games.
So PE is a good location for starting or ending travels through the Eastern Cape but not a destination in itself. Airport is small and easy to get around and driving in and out of PE airport is easy.