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Football Crowds near Pretoria Backpacker's

Getting to Pretoria was yet another terrifying experience for Jan. She quite literally expected to be hijacked at any minute of the two hour drive from the outskirts of Johannesburg, the economic capital, to Pretoria, the center of government and official capital of South Africa. She would have been happier had we driven on the freeway, but Gerry insisted that he had come to SA to see SA and not its freeways. He was adamant, Jan was desperate. She kept all the doors locked and would only reluctantly open the window a smidgeon to get some fresh air. But indeed, everything was fine, no one hijacked us and we drove into Pretoria about noon on a Saturday. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and all was right with the world.

Our Favorite Pretoria Restaurant

We were heading for Pretoria Backpacker's, another Lonely Planet pick, where we had booked a double room. Although we didn't realize it we were lucky to arrive when we did, because two hours later the road where the backpacker was located was closed to traffic because of a nearby football match. Unlike our Jo'burg place, this hostel had almost no garden, but also no high wall, no automatic steel gate and no barbed wire. All seemed positive signs to Jan.

We parked our Chico, carried in our bags, paid for two nights, and then asked the best place to go eat. They recommended Eastwoods and said to just walk over there! They assured us we would be quite safe. And so we were.

Happy Customers

In spite of the heat we sat outside on the terrace and ate a terrific steak dinner and drank a glass of wine. Things were looking up and Jan was beginning to relax. And in spite of appearances, we did not plan to match the restaurant's decor.

Downtown Pretoria from the Voortrekker Monument

We spent our first afternoon at the Voortrekker Monument. Built to commemorate the trek of the Dutch-speaking South Africans from the coast inland to escape the dominion of the English settlers, it is a central part of Afrikaans culture. Much about it reminded us of the pioneering culture of the American Far West. They travelled in horse-drawn wagons, wore simple clothing that closely resembled that of American pioneers, who were also mostly farmers like the eponymous Boers (the Afrikaans word for farmers).

Downtown Pretoria from the Voortrekker Monument

Downtown Pretoria is not very big, easily walkable and seemingly safe, at least before dark. We drove into downtown a couple of times from our hostel, parked the car on the street, and walked around from museum to museum.

South African Parliament Building

We weren't able to visit the parliament buiding itself, but did explore the gardens around it quite thoroughly and taking advantage of the early morning's cooler temperatures. In the gardens we encountered a group of Russian visitors to whom Jan managed to stutter out a few words of her atrocious Russian. Luckily their English was no better so honor was not lost for our side.

South African Parliament Building

Parliament Building Gardens

Palm Tree Fruits

Melrose House Museum

After leaving the Parliament district, we drove into the heart of downtown and visited Melrose House, now a museum showing what life was like for the wealthy residents of Pretoria during the Victorian era.

Melrose House Garden

Pretoria

Downtown Pretoria

Pretoria City Hall

Pretoria Fruitseller

We bought some of this friendly lady's fruits in lieu of lunch. By the middle of the day, the heat was quite overpowering and so we delayed our eating until we got back to the hostel.

Two Pretty Pretoria Residents, Happy to Pose for a Foreign Photographer

Laundry and Haircut

Jan has a very clear memory of the roadside shopping center in Pretoria,pictured above. We came here to wash clothes, hence the photograph of the laundrette. But once the clothes were in the washing machine, Jan discovered a barber shop at the far end and asked the barber if he would cut her hair. He seemed shocked, perhaps because I was white. He and all his customers were black. But he was the only hairdresser I had come across since landing in Johannesburg and my hair was desperately in need of a cut. We agreed on a price and then it was my turn to be shocked. He started to cut my hair with an electric shaver. Clearly he was only used to cutting men's hair! But he did a fine job and we both recovered quite well from our respective shocks.

Unlocking Gerry's Phone

Thanks to the smiling young man in the photo above, we managed to use Gerry's Australia-bought SONY Ericsson phone to get connected to the web and so pick up and send email. The service wasn't terribly reliable and was awfully slow, but even in most rural areas we could get access to the web without having to go out and look for an internet cafe after dark. It was not expensive, but did need Gerry's phone to be unlocked somehow from an Australian provider, even though it had been sold as an unlocked phone.