Mossel Bay to Swellendam

This morning we met the other co-host of the Bed and Breakfast and she was just as lovely. On the Garden Route, I decided to book independent B&B’s to add to our road-tripping experience and so far, so good. We had a lovely breakfast with fun cups while looking at the bay:





Mossel Bay is halfway between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town - 400 km or 250 miles on each side and a popular stopping point for international visitors on the Garden Route. It is also known as the first place where Europeans landed on South African soil - it was on 3 February 1488, by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias.

As such, today we visited the museum named after him, built near the landing site and the spring they found to refill their water supplies:



We tried to avoid the horde of Chinese tourists that arrived by bus at the same time as us and enjoyed the maritime museum first. The museum had many maps and a replica of Dias’ caravel or sailing ship:







Afterwards, we perused the shell museum and the braille garden where the visually impaired can read and feel the plants, but the famous stop here is the Post Office Tree. Apparently in 1501, another Portuguese navigator, Pedro de Ataide, on his return from the east, left a letter in a shoe and hung it from a milkwood tree. The report was found by the explorer to whom it was addressed, João da Nova, and this tree was a post office of sorts for decades for the sailors. Now there is a boot-shaped post box under this over 500 year old tree. Mail shipped from here actually gets a special commemorative stamp! Here’s Amanda mailing our postcards:







We also found the padrão which is a stone pillar left by Portuguese maritime explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries - it records significant landfalls and thereby establish primacy and possession:



We then walked around the grounds and also took our Mossel Bay selfie:





Ann and Hattie who we met yesterday at Knysna said they stayed at a hotel made up of old train cars near the Mossel Bay beach - we presume the trains cars in our selfie is where they stayed.

After getting our steps in, we then headed back on to the N2 highway for just under 2 hours. We stopped for coffee at Ikigai which apparently means “a reason for being” in Japanese and chatted with the lovely owner. He said they also had a location at our next stop in Swellendam.



Also, here in paying with cash for our roobois lattes, we realized and got excited that each of the South African bill notes have the Big Five - animals are everywhere in South Africa:



While listening to another audiobook, we safely made it to Swellendam which is the 4th oldest town in South Africa. It is famous for Cape Dutch architecture and has many historical buildings and sites. We checked in at Marula Lodge with Walter. The lodge has a nice pool, but unfortunately it’s been raining all day.



Walter suggested having lunch at the Republic which we found easily after driving through town. Amanda had a salad and I had a Swellendam Bobotje or a spiced mince meat casserole, that was tasty with vegetables, rice, and pumpkin fritters:



After lunch, I visited the local church which is very white and built in 1911. It’s pretty plain inside as it’s Dutch Reformed Protestant. Apparently, it’s eclectic style mixed in with baroque, gothic, and even eastern. The steeple is a replica of a famous steeple in Belgium:





Then I visited the Drodsty complex. Initially, I visited the Ambagswerf or artisan yard behind the old jail house. It had different structures and items on display on how folks would live hundreds of years ago as a tanner, coppersmith, woodworker, and etc. It felt like Shaker Village in the Berkshires or Colonial Williamsburg. The signs were thoughtful all around as they acknowledged they are working to build in better information about the multiracial living conditions and the use of slavery. This is unlike other signs we have read at other places that seemed to gloss over this part of history. Here’s the artisanal yard:



Here, I also saw pairs of helmeted guineafowl with their offspring, but didn’t get the photo in time before they went behind some bushes. So here’s some geese that were just walking around:

Then I went to the main part across the street which is the Drodsty itself. It is one of Swellendam’s oldest buildings and the magistrate’s residence built in 1747. A photo of the exterior, the kitchen, and breakfast room:







After peeking at the barn, I walked through their nursery and then down the garden path to the next building in the complex:





The final building was the Mayville which was home to a prosperous 19th century family. It had lovely furniture inside, but my one photo was of the dining room:



Then I returned to Marula Lodge and napped. Tonight they are load shedding in the area or essentially having controlled blackouts to manage the grid usage. All the hotels we’re staying at mentions this and have generators. The WiFi and lights work, but anything plugged into outlets does not. We hadn’t experienced a load shedding night, or at least that I’m aware of before. But we managed and made due as we balanced work and blogging!