| Neil Fraser visits Western Cape |
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| Written by Neil Fraser | |
| Monday, 22 September 2008 | |
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Hospitality is as varied as the architecture in many small towns and villages, where beautiful historical buildings have "South African modern" neighbours.  Neil Fraser QUITE a number of years ago my wife and I spent about 10 days exploring west coast towns and villages such as Yzerfontein, Vredenburg, Paternoster, Velddrif, Lambert's Bay, and so on. Last week we did the same, but explored inland villages in Western Cape such as Riebeek Kasteel, Gouda, Tulbagh, Prince Alfred Hamlet, McGregor, Bredasdorp, Napier, Bot River, et cetera, as well as the larger and better-known towns in-between. The weather was mainly awful - overcast, cold winds and rain with just one real Cape summer day and, of course, when we left on Friday morning it was great. But the scenery was amazing; we do live in a magnificent country and Western Cape must have been in front of the queue when beauty was handed out. It's always interesting being a tourist in your own country and finding out what visitors to our shore experience. Because it is off-season we didn't book anywhere but stopped at tourist and information bureaux in whatever place we decided to overnight. We found them all to be very efficient and able to provide us with the information we were looking for. This included details of self-catering establishments. We wanted basic accommodation with cooking facilities and here we experienced a vast range in standard, all at the same price - from places where cobwebs hung from the ceilings and the mattresses were thin and the sheets grey, to cottages superbly appointed with wonderful views; from rooms equipped with a microwave, fridge and knives, forks and spoons to kitchenettes with the full monty and then some. Some had tea, coffee and rusks while others were totally bare of refreshments. In one place we never saw a single person - we even paid by electronic transfer - in others, friendly hosts would show concern as to our comfort. After a night in the "don't care" variety, a visitor to South Africa must perceive the country as quite primitive while in the "full monty", for the very same price, they would think that the country offers real luxury and warmth. The provincial roads were almost all in great shape. Not so with all municipal roads - in a couple of places access clearly wasn't a priority and roads were potholed and not in a good shape. Clean streets One of the things that struck us in some of the bigger towns in particular, was the quite extreme mixture of buildings in the town centres. The older towns' high streets had the most beautiful historic buildings standing cheek by jowl with hideous McDonald's and "South African modern" single-storey retail stores interspersed with residential buildings of varying ages and condition. Eclectic? No, messy! Obviously absolutely no thought or direction was given to developers who generally seem to have taken the attitude that "anything will do" provided they pay the rates! Lack of sound planning can also be seen in the sprawl that has been allowed. As the town centre expands, mostly residentially, vineyards are being sacrificed on the periphery, which is rather like selling our crown jewels. We didn't see any evidence of spatial integration - most places appeared to still have "white" residential suburbs, or just extensions of the town centre, while other races were still located in the more distant townships. On the other hand we saw no informal traders, "stop street sellers", beggars or homeless people. Maybe someone's getting it right, or ...? But it's Monday and back to the mill and talking about Joeys next Citichat! Ciao, Neil Walking Tour: Melville Koppies The tour starts at 8am promptly as the gates are locked at 8am and no entry is possible after this. It lasts about three hours and is over rough natural paths. It is for reasonably fit adults and is not suitable for children under 12. A walking pace will be set and the whole group must stay together with Melville Koppies guides leading and bringing up the rear. No dogs allowed. Please wear shoes with proper tread and bring hat, sunblock, water, and snacks. Toilets and water at one stop only. The cost is a R20 (or more!) donation for the maintenance of the koppies. For more information, phone Wendy on 011 482 4797. Walking tour: Hope Road, Mountainview Stories of Gandhi and his architect associate, Herman Kallenbach, also relate to this area. The cost is R75 and booking is at Computicket. Meet Dennis Adams and special guest Alkis Doucakis in Hope Road, on the corner of Osborne and Hope roads (Hope Road is just off Louis Botha Avenue) at 2pm. For more information, contact the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust office on 011 482 3349 in the mornings or visit the trust's website. Related stories: |
