Experience a diversity of things to do and activities in and around Johannesburg
Adventure Tourism: Bungee jumping off the Orlando Towers A guest at Liz at Lancaster had his adrenalin rush for the weekend when he went bungee jumping from the old cooling towers in Soweto. Known as the Orlando Towers, this ‘vertical adventure facility’ was the brainchild of Bob Woods back in 2001. When the disused towers needed maintenance […]
Read More »Making institutional meaning of place In The Practice of Everyday Life the French scholar De Certeau has a chapter “Walking in the City”. Here he asserts that the ‘city’ is brought into being by official bodies and large institutions which produce systems like street grids, planned urban spaces, precincts, maps etc. And it is these strategies which […]
Read More »Kids Activities – BUT many of these have closed down: Guests at Liz at Lancaster have a small (completely adorable) 2 year old. He is very sociable and wants to socialize with persons who have the same interests (like us all!) and because his parents are only here in SA for 2 months or so, […]
Read More »Collector’s Treasury Commissioner St TO GET HOLD OF COLLECTORS’ TREASURY PHONE 078 360 7749 and please tell them how you got hold of their details – thank you! I’m a sucker for second hand bookshops, actually I’m a sucker for bookshops, period. But if you want a real experience visit the Collectors’ Treasury in Commissioner St […]
Read More »Rooftop venues are all the rage in Jozi Which comes first – the chicken or the egg? In the case of the built environment it is surely the buildings which must precede the functional possibilities they offer. So as the supply of high rise inner city developments has increased, so the demand for a venue […]
Read More »Park Station then: and now … History of Park Station Johannesburg’s first railway station , commissioned by the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek and designed by the Dutch architect Jacob Klinkhamer, was manufactured in Rotterdam in 1895. It was brought out to the Transvaal and was re-erected at Park Halt (as Park Station was known at […]
Read More »Rosebank’s status as major business and leisure hub Neil Fraser who is a private consultant in the field of urban renewal, writes an amazing newsletter Citichat. Sadly since he has left Johannesburg to take up life in Montagu, these newsletters are less frequent than they were. Citichat is a Joint Venture with Urban Genesis Management […]
Read More »Johannesburg Heritage Foundation Tours The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation runs weekly tours usually on Saturday afternoons. What makes them special? They explore interesting parts of Johannesburg They often include unusual places and spaces that are off-the-tourist-route They are often walking tours. They also sometimes do bus tours (like the Parktown Garden Tour on Sun 17th Feb […]
Read More »Russian Orthodox Church and Turkish Mosque in Midrand Towards the end of last year I went on a tour with the Joburg Heritage Foundation of two buildings in Pretoria which have a lot in common. Both: are religious buildings use imported architectural language and foreign materials are constructed with exquisite detail are breathtakingly beautiful. But […]
Read More »Lebo’s Soweto Bicycle Tours Cycling is becoming an increasingly popular way of seeing local Joburg sites and sights. Lebo of Sowetobicycle tours has for many years offered cycling tours. There are various options on offer: starting from a 2 hour tour which includes a visit to a worker’s hostel, the Hector Pieterson Museum as well […]
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