First (and only!) full day in Joburg, so we prioritized
before we came and had two things we really wanted to do: 1. A bike tour of the
Alexandra township 2. Explore the Maboneng neighborhood.
Despite a late night arrival and some last minute planning, we
set an alarm and jumped out of bed bright and early to take care of a few
things (ATM for some local currency, breakfast, sunscreen application, etc.)
before heading out to meet the bike tour at 9:30. We grabbed a cab from the hotel to the
Marlborough Train Station where the bike tour was picking us up. We stumbled
upon the Alexandra bike tour in searching for an alternative to the typical
Soweto township tour. Soweto is the most
famous township and has commercialized its tourism to a surprising degree; most
people see it from the comfort of a tour bus stopping at key points. Alexandra was the original township in
Johannesburg (founded in 1912) and is less commercialized; plus, it’s just one
letter off from Alexandria.
We certainly found a lot of contrasts between our home and the
township. Upon arriving at the train
station, we were picked up for a ride into the township to a youth center,
where the bike tour is operated out of.
The bike tour was founded by an entrepreneurial Alexandra youth named
Jeff in 2010 when he was just 18 years old.
Since then, the operation has grown to include five employees, though it
still has a “startup” feel. We met our
tour guides, learned a few Zulu greetings, and then headed out on what turned
out to be a private tour.
We spent the next three hours visiting the sites of the
first primary school and high school in the township, one of our guide’s house,
a day care, a gym Richard Branson is financing, the local “mall,” the poorest
section of the township and finally Nelson Mandela’s house when he first moved
to Johannesburg. Overall, we were struck
by sense of community in the township (our tour guides seemed the most popular
guys in town) and also a bit humbled by how different our lives are. Our tour guides were fantastic and we felt
safe the entire time. This was a
fantastic way to see this unique place.
After the tour, we took the train to its downtown terminus (Park)
and then grabbed a quick cab to the Maboneng precinct. Basically, this is Johannesburg’s
Williamsburg; there are a lot of shops, art galleries and unique places to
eat. We had lunch at a braai (bbq) place
called Sharp!, then spent some time visiting Arts on Main and the various shops,
including the David Krut gallery, which had some very cool prints. Afterward, we lucked into an Uber dropping
off another passenger (we can’t be the first people who have Ubered without
mobile phones, but it was still a great experience!) and headed back to the
hotel for some rest before dinner.
Dinner was at a restaurant called Cube Tasting Kitchen in
the Rosebank neighborhood – turned out to be a cool neighborhood, somewhat more
residential but also with more restaurants and shops than Sandton, where our hotel
is. The restaurant was fairly small,
with an open kitchen, and served a multi-course tasting menu. It was also BYOB, so we showed up with wine
picked up just beforehand. The meal was
great, though there was a LOT of food; it felt like they could use an editor to
rein in the chef. Otherwise, though, excellent,
and worth the cab ride.
Now off to bed
and then safari tomorrow!
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