African Journal: A birthday trip down the coast

[thatcrazycajun]

This is one of those "catching up" entries I promised, about the trip we took recently to Durban that I mentioned in my last entry.
For my 51st birthday, the Songbird and I decided to take advantage of the long Memorial Day holiday weekend and some leave time, and pay our first visit to the South African city of Durban, about seven hours’ drive from Mbabane. This entailed a stay overnight in Richards Bay at the Protea Hotel en route, owing to our having gotten a late start on Saturday morning. (This is actually one of two Protea Hotels in the town, a waterfront high-rise not to be confused with the single-level Protea Hotel-The Richards nearby.) It was very safe, modern and a bit pricey, but had lots of rooms and very friendly service.

We arrived in Durban early Sunday afternoon and checked in at the Belaire Suites, an older hotel that is part of a long stretch of hotels on the city’s North Beach. This hotel is within steps of the water, and a short drive from numerous attractions including the uShaka Marine World waterfront park and Gateway Mall in the suburban Umhlanga Rocks district. It offers very reasonably priced rooms on short notice—comfortable and with magnificent views of the sea—and a hot buffet breakfast each morning. There is a small tourist center a few blocks down Snell Parade where you can pick up brochures, buy tickets, book reservations for hotels and other places and get questions answered.

We got ourselves settled in and collected literature, then drove to Gateway to do a bit of shopping and catch the newly released movie X-Men: Days of Future Past at the cinema inside the mall. In between, we had a memorable dinner at Kung Thai, one of a row of eateries facing the walkable streetscape on Chartwell Drive. (Try the banana spring rolls for dessert!)

Monday we went to the Marine World park and spent a delightful afternoon exploring the aquarium (built inside the hull of a grounded cargo ship, with restaurants on both upper and lower decks), the onsite mini-mall shops and shows with live animal interactions. Mary got to play with a live snake, and we both got splashed by the seals and dolphins at their shows. (There is also a water-play park in the complex, but it wasn’t open that day as school was still in session.) Afterward, we stopped at the Moyo uShaka Pier Bar, which occupies two spaces, one on the beach proper and one far out on a pier over the Indian Ocean. On the pier, we had frozen drinks and snacks and enjoyed the scenery, the sea and the sunset over the water. We finished up the evening at Bar Ba Coa, an Argentinian restaurant in Umhlanga Rocks, with two hefty, yummy steaks cooked gaucho style with baked potato and veg and an exquisite crème brûlée with spun-sugar topping for dessert.

Tuesday morning, we had one last lovely breakfast at the hotel, checked out and spent a little time wading on the beach and then exploring the Victoria Street Market, an exotic two-story mid-town bazaar featuring a couple dozen or so merchants of both African and Indian descent, hawking everything from carved canes to spices to electronics. Then we made one last run to Gateway to raid its "hyper" supermarkets for stuff we can't get in Swaziland, wolfed a quick lunch al trucko at the nearby Mickey D's and finally hit the road back home to Mbabane, feeling like we got a lot for our time, effort and money.

Comments

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

It sounds wonderful. I'm glad y'all had such a good birthday!

[asg-qa-s7.livejournal.com]

Thanks for expanding on your previous post, and including the links. The Cargo Hold restaurant looks especially cool, and had me checking its (lack of) relation to the Skeleton Coast. (Oops, wrong seaboard!)

Hooray for a chance to use up some leave!