10 April 2009    to      13 April 2009

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It had been our intention to explore Bloemfontein for a few years now, and this Easter we finally made it. After finding and booking into a guest house we spent the Friday afternoon having a look around the city center.

What on earth is there in Bloemfontein, people have asked us? Actually quite a lot if you are prepared to look around a bit. Our first stop was Naval Hill to get a better idea of the surroundings. This old observatory is not in use any more and supposedly is some sort of a private theater these days.

Bloemfontein contains a number of historic buildings which house the Appeal Court, Supreme Court, Provincial Legislature and others, all situated in the city center within walking distance.

A statue of Christian De Wet in front of the Fourth Raadsaal building.

The Bloemfontein Waterfront is an excellent Mall with many good restaurants. We had our dinner the Friday evening there which was very enjoyable.

The Saturday morning we visited the zoo which is also situated virtually in the city center. It’s a very nice park like zoo.

Here a big African Buffalo comes towards us in a threatening pose.

However I got onto friendly terms quick enough with the big guy, and soon his pose turned to curiosity with him reading the latest news from my hand like a big dog.

Silvia soon did the same with a little Rino....

and Olie...

Now that beak looks a bit too sharp...!!

After the zoo a visit to the Armor Museum at Tempe followed.

The place was deserted on this Easter weekend. What we found rather interesting was the incredible amount of canteens and braai facilities at the military base which houses the museum. Its as if these guys really have a great life there these days!

The museum includes both Eastern and Western armor.

Bloemfontein is home to an interesting little Orchid house...

although not many were blooming at this time of the year.

Our next stop was the Oliewenhuis Art museum which houses mainly modern art.

Surrounding the museum are some very nice lawns and other art works. Here "The thinker" is contemplating the nature of the universe...

while Silvia is desperately trying to turn the fat toad into a prince!

After this we headed back to the guest house for some coffee and tea before dinner.

On Sunday morning we had a look at some more historic buildings that included the old Presidency...

and the First Raadsaal dating back to 1849.

After this we went to have a look at the Bloemfontein Botanical Garden which is situated a bit north of the city center.

It’s a beautiful garden with lots of picnic and even braai facilities, as well as two short trails.

A view of the gardens from one of the hills.

Our final stop for the day and indeed the weekend was the National Museum in Bloemfontein.

The museum is well worth a visit and can keep one busy for quite a few hours if one looks at everything. It even has a complete mockup of a late 19th century town center with its shops etc. Well…that was the end of the Easter weekend, but I must say we did enjoy our visit to Bloemfontein. We had not seen everything the city has to offer by a long chance, but I think we covered the main places.