holiday time
It’ll soon be April holiday time, and we all need to prepare for our holidays. Durban. Kruger Park. CT. Venice. The Berg. Potchefstroom. Yes, I said, Potchefstroom. Believe it or not, contrary to popular belief, potch is a valid holiday destination.
Ok, I admit you may not have heard of it. Maybe you don’t know where it is. Don’t worry, not many people do.
And this is despite the fact that it is within only 250kms from Pretoria and has been there for the last 170 or so years, since 1839, 16 years longer than Pretoria has been here. In fact, someone called Marthinus Pretorius lived in Potch and founded Pretoria in 1855 while he was head of the ZAR.
So you could all look at Potchefstroom as the father of your home city. And you should seriously think about visiting.
Why else should you go there?
First of all, it doesn’t take long to get there. The route is perfectly flat so you save on petrol. You will take 3 or 4 hours to get there, depending on how lost you get. When you get lost you can stand on your car roof and see for miles. Unfortunately they’ve put a few other similar towns around there, so you might get to visit Klerksdorp, Carletonville or Parys instead. Don’t worry, if you’ve seen one platteland dorp you’ve seen them all.
The best thing about driving there is that the road is tarred and you will be the only one on it. You might fall asleep at the wheel. Don’t worry. In the the platteland you can just wait until you wake up and reverse out the mielie fioeld back onto the road.
You should plan your journey. Leave at 7am on Sat. By 11 you’ll be in Kerk Str passing the oldest building in town, the NG Kerk, and looking for the Royal Hotel to slake your thirst. At this point you should reflect that you could be in any platteland town, so how do you know you’re in Potchefstroom? I’ll tell you – if you can’t find the trusty Royal. It turns out that the Royal Hotel has changed its name to Kings Hotel in Potchefstroom. So go there for your welcoming drink.
The first thing you will do is look for the tourist attractions. You will probably head for the tourist info bureau. This is a very small office with very little in it and a lady with very little to say. There you will discover that you can visit the the excellent stadium and sports facilities where the Spanish football team were housed, Marthinus’ house and a graveyard with soldier graves and apparently where there was a large concentration camp and a few bricks on the ground meant to indicate that fact. Almost all historical places of interest are closed on weekends but don’t let that stop you. In the case of the graveyard and enterprising tourist has made a hole in the fence for access.
Avoid the main Potch attraction and the only one officialyy open, the museum. It is the newest and ugliest building in Potch and has been Culturally Corrected, in other words, they have managed to replace any documented history and colonialist items such as guns and cannons with a lot of clay pots, baskets and paint tins which apparently describe Potchs origins far more comprehensively.
By 12 you will have driven on every road in Potchefstroom and visited all the historical places of interest. This is partly due to the fact that all places of interest are closed in Potchefstroom on weekends.
Now that its midday its time to chill out in a coffee shop and absorb the culture and think about what to do for the next two days. The first thing you will notice is that the culture is Afrikaans. The second thing that the culture is student culture. The third thing is that you should have brought your bottle of chilli sauce, because boerekos is completely tasteless. The fourth thing is that Potchefstrrom people are incredibly friendly and generous and interesting to talk to. Maybe because they only see a tourist once every six months, no chance of tourist fatigue here. The last thing you will notice is that there is seemingly, on the face of it, and as you would expect, nothing to do in Potchefstroom. You need to be creative. You need to wander around, investigating the crannies and nooks, exposing yourself to the thrill of being a pioneering tourist.
A bit of poking around will reveal the Potch hidden gems. To get you going, I’ll mention a few. Two are a man called Isak and his wife Magda. They stay in a farmhouse which used to belong to Jacob Daniël du Toit, better known as Totius, a very clever academic and poet from 60 years ago. Another is Boplaas, a wonderful farm for hiking and staying over. Another is the Boschkop dam and nature reserve. The numerous Potch guest houses are cheap, attractive and incredibly good value. And more time will reveal more. After having spent two days there I think about 4 might have been needed to do justice to the place.
Next week I will be holidaying in Krugersdorp, so look forward to another fastinating travel talk coming up.
So these holidays, forget about Durbs and Italy. Put the money in your pocket and head for potch. See if you can find Potchefstroom. I guarantee you a much nicer holiday in every possible way.
Ok, I admit you may not have heard of it. Maybe you don’t know where it is. Don’t worry, not many people do.
And this is despite the fact that it is within only 250kms from Pretoria and has been there for the last 170 or so years, since 1839, 16 years longer than Pretoria has been here. In fact, someone called Marthinus Pretorius lived in Potch and founded Pretoria in 1855 while he was head of the ZAR.
So you could all look at Potchefstroom as the father of your home city. And you should seriously think about visiting.
Why else should you go there?
First of all, it doesn’t take long to get there. The route is perfectly flat so you save on petrol. You will take 3 or 4 hours to get there, depending on how lost you get. When you get lost you can stand on your car roof and see for miles. Unfortunately they’ve put a few other similar towns around there, so you might get to visit Klerksdorp, Carletonville or Parys instead. Don’t worry, if you’ve seen one platteland dorp you’ve seen them all.
The best thing about driving there is that the road is tarred and you will be the only one on it. You might fall asleep at the wheel. Don’t worry. In the the platteland you can just wait until you wake up and reverse out the mielie fioeld back onto the road.
You should plan your journey. Leave at 7am on Sat. By 11 you’ll be in Kerk Str passing the oldest building in town, the NG Kerk, and looking for the Royal Hotel to slake your thirst. At this point you should reflect that you could be in any platteland town, so how do you know you’re in Potchefstroom? I’ll tell you – if you can’t find the trusty Royal. It turns out that the Royal Hotel has changed its name to Kings Hotel in Potchefstroom. So go there for your welcoming drink.
The first thing you will do is look for the tourist attractions. You will probably head for the tourist info bureau. This is a very small office with very little in it and a lady with very little to say. There you will discover that you can visit the the excellent stadium and sports facilities where the Spanish football team were housed, Marthinus’ house and a graveyard with soldier graves and apparently where there was a large concentration camp and a few bricks on the ground meant to indicate that fact. Almost all historical places of interest are closed on weekends but don’t let that stop you. In the case of the graveyard and enterprising tourist has made a hole in the fence for access.
Avoid the main Potch attraction and the only one officialyy open, the museum. It is the newest and ugliest building in Potch and has been Culturally Corrected, in other words, they have managed to replace any documented history and colonialist items such as guns and cannons with a lot of clay pots, baskets and paint tins which apparently describe Potchs origins far more comprehensively.
By 12 you will have driven on every road in Potchefstroom and visited all the historical places of interest. This is partly due to the fact that all places of interest are closed in Potchefstroom on weekends.
Now that its midday its time to chill out in a coffee shop and absorb the culture and think about what to do for the next two days. The first thing you will notice is that the culture is Afrikaans. The second thing that the culture is student culture. The third thing is that you should have brought your bottle of chilli sauce, because boerekos is completely tasteless. The fourth thing is that Potchefstrrom people are incredibly friendly and generous and interesting to talk to. Maybe because they only see a tourist once every six months, no chance of tourist fatigue here. The last thing you will notice is that there is seemingly, on the face of it, and as you would expect, nothing to do in Potchefstroom. You need to be creative. You need to wander around, investigating the crannies and nooks, exposing yourself to the thrill of being a pioneering tourist.
A bit of poking around will reveal the Potch hidden gems. To get you going, I’ll mention a few. Two are a man called Isak and his wife Magda. They stay in a farmhouse which used to belong to Jacob Daniël du Toit, better known as Totius, a very clever academic and poet from 60 years ago. Another is Boplaas, a wonderful farm for hiking and staying over. Another is the Boschkop dam and nature reserve. The numerous Potch guest houses are cheap, attractive and incredibly good value. And more time will reveal more. After having spent two days there I think about 4 might have been needed to do justice to the place.
Next week I will be holidaying in Krugersdorp, so look forward to another fastinating travel talk coming up.
So these holidays, forget about Durbs and Italy. Put the money in your pocket and head for potch. See if you can find Potchefstroom. I guarantee you a much nicer holiday in every possible way.
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