Having come back from Mozambique we spent another three warm and sunny autum days in Johannesburg before boarding our flight to Istanbul, where we have another three warm and sunny spring days.
Johannesburg is a very big city and a little scary and intimidating at first. There are those areas were the rich and the middle class live, where every house is behind big walls, tall iron gates with sharp spikes, barbed wire and so much electric fence with high voltage. And then there are a lot of places where the not so rich and very poor live. Old houses, no windows, no security fence, partially broken down walls, no roof, people on the street, lighting fires and burning rubbish. Once you manage to navigate around or through those rough areas, Johannesburg, or Jozi as the locals call it, actually has quite a lot to offer; much more than we could see in the short time we were there. But what we saw, we liked and enjoyed.
We visited the Neighbour Goods Market, which takes place every Saturday morning in Bramfontain, the city centre of Johannesburg. Once a high crime area that you better stay away from, it has now started to become a more multicultural block with nicely decorated boutique shops of handcrafted and designed clothes and other things, second hand markets, street art, live music anc dancing, where black and white happily mix together. And a big market with fresh home cooked and self made food and drinks, that takes place in an old car park. We also visited the large and beautiful Delta Park, a green area with a Bird sanctuary and lots of pretty butterflies, and fantastic views over Johannesburg where all kinds of people meet on weekends for ballgames and barbeque.
Now, we sit in the plane and watch the evening lights of Johannesburg dissappear below us. A little sad we say Goodbye and Farewell Africa. You have treated us well and we had a wonderful time with plenty of lasting memories to take with us. Thank you!
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