Day 2

Day two
Saturday 18th January 2020

Current position
Durban View Guesthouse
16 Holstead Gardens, Essenwood, Berea, 4001, South Africa
29°50'16.4"S 31°00'34.4"E

Feeling refreshed after a good nights sleep we slowly got ourselves together to visit the Waterfront.

Uber taxis seem to be the way to travel so I downloaded the app and minutes later our driver was at the door. On the way to the seafront it was noticeable even though it was approaching 11.30am that there were very few people walking in the streets. Perhaps it is unwise to walk?

We were dropped off at a large Shopping Mall where we made our way through to the seafront. The Promenade stretched for miles and was not very crowded despite it being Saturday in mid summer. However the sky was overcast with a strong offshore wind.

Today we had two objectives one to buy some electrical plug adapters as I'd brought the wrong type from home although google said they were the same as those used in India. Secondly we needed a local SIM card to summon the Uber taxis. We quickly got the adapters from a phone shop that strangely did not sell SIM or topup cards but we discovered a small convenience shop in a dubious backstreet that gave us a free SIM but topping it up on the phone was a nightmare. We eventually got a topup card from a clothes shop of all places where the lady on the till took pity on me and installed the topup in minutes.

During the afternoon we called in at several tourist information places where Ros got a good selection of brochures so she can piece together our itinerary for the next few days.

As it grew dark we stopped at a pier bar overlooking the bay for a glass of wine and watched the last few bathers enjoying the rough water. The wind was so strong it blew the wooden menu boards off our table. By eight o'clock it was dark and all the restaurants on the seafront were closing or deserted.
To get out of the now cascading drizzle we chose to eat in a restaurant adjoining an hotel where we were the only diners which was not surprising as the food was not that good.

Using the new topup on my phone an Uber taxi arrived in minutes and for less than a cup of coffee it whisked us back to the guesthouse.

Ros spent the final hour of the evening poring over her tourist brochures.

'When travelling some of the best things happen by chance not design'