We had to attend a non-profit symposium in a Town called Paarl.
Long straight roads that stretch for miles on the way, with a blue misty mountain range in the distance.
Paarl is the Dutch word for Pearl, and the town was named as such due to the huge granite boulders that glisten like pearls after a rainstorm. We traveled to the town a day early in order to miss the traffic on the next day of the scheduled symposium, and of course I also wanted some time to take photos of the area.
Come travel with us.
Some life at last, and I think that if one has to down that big bottle of wine in a hurry, then sick leave will be mandatory from work for a few weeks:))
Finally, we neared the mountain range. We have not traveled on this particular road before, and it was so refreshing to see all the new sights and compare it to our own town.
A big river runs through the town, and I took this shot towards the left-hand side of the river.
And this is what the right-hand side of the river looks like.
Yep! Same as our town. Many farmlands surround the town.
A lovely view of farmland at the foot of the mountains.
At the safe Wikipedia source link below, you can see pictures of the town, and read interesting tidbits about the town and its history.
Paarl gained additional international attention when, on 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela walked, with live international television coverage, out of Victor Verster Correctional Centre (now known as Drakenstein Correctional Centre) in Paarl ending his 27 years of imprisonment, and beginning a course to South Africa's post-apartheid era and, notably, to multi-racial elections. Mandela spent three years in prison here living in a private house within the walls. Today, a bronze statue of Mandela stands outside the prison.
The Dutch East India Company, under the leadership of Jan van Riebeeck, established meat-trading relationships with the Khoikhoi people on the Table Bay coastline. In 1657, in search of new trading relationships inland, Abraham Gabemma saw a giant granite rock glistening in the sun after a rainstorm and named it "de Diamondt en de Peerlberg" (Diamond and Pearl Mountain), from which Paarl is derived. Gabemma (often also spelt Gabbema) was the Fiscal (public treasurer) for the settlement on the shores of Table Bay. The "diamonds" disappeared from the name, and it became known simply as Pearl Rock or Pearl Mountain.
This monument below was erected to honor the Afrikaans language.
That church dominates the town and some workers were busy on the tower. You can see them on the scaffolding.
Paarl is also famous for its wine, and they reckon that it's the oldest town in the Winelands. Tours are offered on the winelands route, and if ever you were to visit the Western Cape, then make sure that you book yourself on to one of those tours. Thankfully, the weather held out and there was no rain over the two days that we spent there, and I was also able to take photos on the second day before and after the symposium. Once it was done, we took a slow cruise back home, passing through Franschhoek, Pniel, and Stellenbosch. All of the small towns in the Western Cape province have long histories stretching from the 1600's. Settlers from France, and other European countries, also settled in the towns and that's why many of them have a European tinge to them. We are happy to say that we still have much to explore, and I will continue to share our travels in the future with all of you.
I hope that you have enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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