Connecting African Culture Through the Seas
The Amazing Journey of Bill Pinkney Imagine leaving your life and the familiar touch of soil beneath your feet to sail across treacherous seas around the globe with only a …
A spunky, rather progressive university town located nearly at the geographical center of South Africa, Bloemfontein is capital of Free State province, and also the judicial capital of South Africa. Despite being a “double” capital, Bloem (as the locals call it) has a small-time vibe and lacks the major attractions of larger cities in the country. But it’s a perfectly pleasant place visited by thousands of business travelers, parents of university students, and road-trippers every year – after all, it is at the crossroads of all the country’s major highways.
Bloemfontein’s got dry, warm weather — a function of its location in South Africa’s flat, arid interior –which is conducive to strolling the streets of the city center and admiring the lovely sandstone buildings whose styles range from Mediterranean, to British, to Renaissance to Classical. However most of the tourist activity is in the upmarket suburbs northwest of the center, where lively cultural, culinary and musical scenes thrive, despite Bloem’s reputation as a provincial backwater. Franklin Game Reserve and the excellent Bloemfontein Zoo are among the affordable attractions that make this city worth at least a two-day stopover.
The city is famous as the birthplace of JRR Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Locals like to joke that Tolkien’s memory of Bloemfontein as ‘hot, dry and barren’ was the inspiration for the fictional kingdom of Mordor. If you’re interested in learning more about Tolkien, head over to the Hobbit Boutique Hotel, which is home to the local Tolkien literary society.
Bloemfontein (which is Afrikaans for “flower fountain”) is also known as the “city of roses,” and is home to 4,000 rose bushes. If you happen to visit when the plants are in bloom in October, you’ll find the city awash in the delicious scent of flowers — which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the sensitivity of your nose!
Safety: Apart from pickpocketing and the occasional mugging in the CBD, Bloemfontein is very safe. Tourists should not venture into townships alone, however.
The Amazing Journey of Bill Pinkney Imagine leaving your life and the familiar touch of soil beneath your feet to sail across treacherous seas around the globe with only a …
The Free State’s capital is a spunky, progressive university town that doubles as South Africa’s judicial capital. Due to being business focused city, rates in the area can sometimes get …