A Walk Through Jeppestown with Ancient Secrets

After our first outing with Ishvara of Ancient Secrets for his Troyeville Walk, we needed no further convincing to sign up for the next scheduled visit to Jeppestown. Jeppestown is said to be Johannesburg’s oldest suburb, having been established around 1889 by Julius Jeppe. The neighborhood lies just to the east of the CBD (Central Business District) and is a fascinating historical and cultural blend.

Our walk commenced at the House of Baobab restaurant in the Maboneng Precinct with coffee and a sweet Tanzanian doughnut-like treat called Mandazi. The group then headed off into the heart of Jeppestown for the next 3+ hours lead by the captivating Ishvara Dhyan. Ishvara’s knowledge of the area is extraordinary and it would be impossible for me to share all the details here so for this blog post I am mainly going to focus on some photos with the hope that they may inspire you to take one of these tours yourself.

Mentis BuildingsMentis Buildings-Art Nouveau. Currently being used as private residences.

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Savoring Stellenbosch

In my previous post, I wrote about a Perfect Day on the Western Cape that I spent while down on a work trip back in May. Luckily for me I had one more free day and chose to spend it doing 2 things that I do best: tasting some of the region’s best wines and indulging in some fine South African cuisine.

The Cape Winelands counts 6 different regions and choosing where to imbibe can be difficult. There are many companies organizing custom, private tours where you can choose exactly where you’d like to go as well as other small group tours which usually do 5 or so different stops. We have always chosen to go on our own, sometimes hiring a driver and sometimes just driving ourselves (of course if you choose to do the later, the driver will need to employ the spit technique if doing much tasting).

Welcome to Hidden Valley WinesWelcome to Hidden Valley Wines

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