Monday, April 15, 2013

A tourist in our own town - City Sightseeing Tours

Daddles and I love doing tours of Joburg! We love the history, the vibe, the architecture, the people. So as a birthday present, I decided to book us on the newly unveiled City Sighting seeing tour of Johannesburg. I've done the tours in Cape Town and Rome and loved them! They're a quick, easy and interesting way to see a city and to get a feel for it before you launch yourself into being a tourist.  

The tickets are very reasonable, R120 online and R150 at the 'door'. We started the tour at Park Station on a half full bus. There were the usual selection of European tourists but it was also nice to see or rather hear locals on the tour.  

The audio part of the tour is very good. The guides have some good information and are entertaining. They objectively cover the important parts of Joburg history but without going too deep into the ugly parts surrounding apartheid. Luckily there weren’t any cringe –worthy parts which is quite an achievement!  

It goes past Ghandi Square, the Carlton Centre (see previous Top of Africa post) and onto Santarama.  

We got off at the Santarama stop. Just to give you some background… in primary school, Santarama was one of the field trips we used to do. It's also known as Miniland. It's full of teeny replicas of all sorts of (pre 1994) South African things like an airport, the Castel of Good Hope, a harbour, a city hall,  the Dromedaris, rural villages for different tribes and so on. There is a massive statue of Jan van Riebeeck outside and for some strange reason, a huge statue of Michael Jackson inside? I was looking forward to seeing the place because I only have fond memories of it… I was very disappointed! It looks like they haven’t done any maintenance in the last 15 years and would probably have to demolish it and start again. I'm not really sure why this is on the tour?  
 

We then walked down the road to the James Hall Transport Museum. What a treat! I'd never heard of it, but am so glad my Dad wanted to see it! They have old wagons, bikes, fire engines and cars in great condition. Being a fan of shiny sports cars and vintage cars, I was in my element! Then it was on to Gold Reef City, via Turfontein, past the Apartheid Museum and back into town.   

We got off the bus again at the Mining District Walk, outside the Anglo American building – which was the building my dad had his job in (but not at Anglo). We walked down Main Street which has been done up very nicely! My dad told me stories about when he worked in town in the 70's before the big companies moved into the Sandton CBD. There are little extra touches everywhere like pretty gardens, metal leaf cut outs in the pavements and mining machinery and presses. While waiting for the bus, we chatted to some guys (and their customers) at their spaza shop and my dad took some great photos… Joburg is truly a great cultural melting pot!

And then we were off to Newtown, where we stopped to grab some lunch at Gramadoelas. I wouldn’t recommend it. Bad service, terrible food and a waste of stomach space! I think you just need to look a bit harder in the area for a great place to eat. While waiting for the bus, we made a plan to come back to the Sci Bono Museum that is in the old Electric Workshop (my favourite rave venue back in the 90's).

The rest of the trip took us past the Origins Centre - a very interesting museum about the evolution of humankind, The Grove in Braamfoniten, home to the Neighbourgoods Market (excellent market!!) and a lot of urban renewal and the to Constitution Hill. This is my favourite museum and I've done the tour so many times I can probably give it myself. If there is one place you visit in Joburg, this is it!!

From there, it was back to Park Station and the end of a really good tour. We had a great day and I am looking forward to other routes they will hopefully add to the tour.

 

 
 

 

1 comment:

  1. What a cool day with my favourite daughter!

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