Sunday, June 27, 2010

Garden Route and Port Elizabeth

Sorry for the lack of updates but we have not had internet access for a few days. Early Friday morning we left for Port Elizabeth which is about a 10 hour drive from Cape Town. But what a drive it is! The scenery in parts of it were breathtaking! The scenery was a combination of southern Iceland, Route 1 in California, and the French Alps. It was majestic, raw, powerful and beautiful. We passed through places called Wilderness, Plettenberg Bay, and stopped in a beautiful town called Knysna (where the French and Danish team stayed during the tournament). We saw the world largest bungy jumping site (I thought about trying it for a moment) and stopped at an elephant park and got to feed the elephants. We also stopped in a small animal park near Port Elizabeth and as a good parent I did allow Benni to go into a cage with lion cubs and he petted them and scratch behind their ears. I wasn´t scared at all... Pictures will follow! On the way, we watched the Brazil Portugal game in a nice little town called Jeffrey Bay where they claim they have one of the best surfing spots in the world.

The city of Port Elizabeth lacks charm. It is a big industrial city and really nothing special. We stayed in a B and B in a suburb called Summerstrand. They have a disneyesque boardwalk that was overtly commercial. The stadium in Port Elizabeth was ok but nothing compared to the stadium in Cape Town. It is situated in a run down neighborhood and the atmosphere surrounding the game was not as festive as in Cape Town. It seemed second rate. However Cape Town is such a spectacular and fun city than anything compared to Cape Town will pale in comparison. I guess we have become spoiled by staying in Cape Town.

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