Our next stop was Durban in the Kwazulu-Natal province. We were spending 12 days there with my parents and sister, Susan. Our time in Kwazulu-Natal would also include a trip to the Drakensburg and a visit to a small Game Reserve in the Midlands between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
Durban is a really fun place with a lot to do but completely ignored in the shadow of Cape Town, Sun City and the Game Reserves around the country. One of the pilgrimages that Annie and I make whenever we visit Durban is to go to The Beverley Hills Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks. It is a fantastic 5-star hotel right on the beach with wonderful lawns littered with comfortable recliners, a sparkling swimming pool which we took full advantage of, and waiters waiting to take drinks and lunch orders. We took David and my mother along with us and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
While we were there we went for a walk along the beach and waded in the water down to another of the beachfront hotels to say hello to some cousins who were staying there.
Some of the other things we did while in Durban included visiting the colourful Mitchells Park for lunch and a walk through the beautiful gardens and flowers; sitting on the beach, swimming in the ocean and walking along the Durban beachfront promenade; visiting the African art centre where we were treated to a demonstration of drumming from around the African continent; a milkshake in a restaurant at the entrance to the harbour where we watched ships coming in and out of the harbour; a visit to South Africa's newest and the largest shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere. It had just opened and is a really beautiful building, so much so that it makes the shops seems almost irrelevant (especially to non-shoppers like Annie and myself). It is a building where the architects have clearly been given the freedom to express themselves, which can be seen with the style and care that has been put into the designs and finishing touches. The centre is full of marble and slate. Two of the things that seem to impress and intrigue people the most are the fountains in the middle of the building that "perform" and "jump" all over the huge black-marble circular area, also occasionally shooting up to the height of the ceiling dome some three very tall storeys high; and the marble basins in the public toilets, they are not basins but flat downward sloping black marble with the water falling onto them in such a way as to look more like a waterfall than just water running away. It may loose some in the telling but suffice is to say, a most impressive building.
While in Durban we were also treated to a variety of excellent meals both at my parents home and at numerous restaurants serving food from around the world.
Durban is a really fun place with a lot to do but completely ignored in the shadow of Cape Town, Sun City and the Game Reserves around the country. One of the pilgrimages that Annie and I make whenever we visit Durban is to go to The Beverley Hills Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks. It is a fantastic 5-star hotel right on the beach with wonderful lawns littered with comfortable recliners, a sparkling swimming pool which we took full advantage of, and waiters waiting to take drinks and lunch orders. We took David and my mother along with us and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
While we were there we went for a walk along the beach and waded in the water down to another of the beachfront hotels to say hello to some cousins who were staying there.