Easter arrived and just like all the Namibians we headed to the coast...
"I typically enjoy a beautiful beach destination, as I find the water and sand to be the most replenishing." - Elizabeth Berkley
"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea." - Anne Morrow Lindbergh
"To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me." - Isaac Newton
For every public holiday here everyone goes to the coast, to their holiday homes, guest houses, hotels and to see friends. In fact from mid December to early January Windhoek almost completely closes as everyone heads to Swakop or Walvis Bay. Easter weekend is no exception. Having been here a year and a bit it was time to embrace the Namibian tradition - we headed to the coast....
"Every man who possibly can should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not." - William James
We headed into town on Friday evening to stay a a little guest house on a quiet street in the centre of town. After checking in at great effort for the lady on duty (we learned everything was preceded by 'eish', contained great effort and closed with a tut - customer service hey?!) we relaxed over a beer, got some recommendations for dinner etc and headed out.
"Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies." - Erich Fromm
[eish, tut]
We started with cocktails on the Hilton Roof Garden and I can't tell you how much I have missed proper margharitas - yum. Sadly it started to rain about 10 mins into our visit, so we toughed it out under the shaded section whilst everyone else ran for indoors - two northerners were not going to be put off roof top cocktails by a bit of rain.
"Never trust any complicated cocktail that remains perfectly clear until the last ingredient goes in, and then immediately clouds." - Terry Prachett
From the roof gardens we headed to the NICE restaurant, which is the training academy for young Namibian chefs. Very nice to be in a proper restaurant with white table cloths and all that jazz. The place was lovely and the service very good, sadly one of the meals contained off fish, which was beyond unpleasant, however a good replacement was served and the evening was saved. After a few Amarula's we finally stumbled to our town abode.
Having not been able to get on the same transfer out of town, I was heading out early afternoon. So spend the morning in the mall shopping and relaxing. About 2pm I got picked up and after a few more pick ups we headed out to the coast. It rained most of the way - even in the desert and it was weird to see puddles amongst the sand. Lionel Richie and the BeeGees accompanied the journey.
"Taking time to sit back and watch and think what you've seen is important. Travelling sis a great deal to me. I found that when I travel and just sit in the corner and watch, a million ideas come to me." - Lionel Richie
Having dropped a bewildered Swedish couple to a skanky taxi rank on the outskirts of the town and watching them get into a cab with the driver, some bird who had a pee by the side of the road in front of us all and their mate in the back, we said a little prayer for them and headed to various hotels before we were finally dropped to ours.
Lovely little guest house, where the rooms looked very like one would do out a room in clapham / balham in an old build. It was still raining heavily so we got wrapped up and headed to a restaurant in an old lighthouse building for a pizza and some vino. Swakop was dead by 11ish and we were the lazy in the restaurant and on the streets it seemed - on a Saturday evening too!
After a breakfast served on the patio we headed out to have a look round the shops, have a coffee in a lovely garden cafe and buy a stone elephant that weighed a ton on the market. We wandered down the beach, even though the weather wasn't great and found somewhere that served ice cream. We saw a couple of dolphins swimming in the bay, which was a lovely surprise. Then had lunch in an old boat followed by a trip to the aquarium, where we got in for Namibian residents rates (all of a bank- breaking N$10 - 70p). After a slightly tipsy trip to see the fish and sting rays we found dinner in a lovely restaurant at the end of the jetty where the food was to die for - so good we ate there the day after for lunch after our massages.
More like bognor than swakop with the rare coastal rainy weather
Oldest building in Swakop
Stingrays
On the jetty
I think we can safely say we have a lovely relaxing time. Just what was needed. Maybe next time we might sample some of the sand-boarding, surfing, quad biking, boat tripping, sky diving etc etc that's on offer?! Or just relax with massages, food and lots of fizzy wine again!
"Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued." - Socrates
"Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies." - Erich Fromm
[eish, tut]
We started with cocktails on the Hilton Roof Garden and I can't tell you how much I have missed proper margharitas - yum. Sadly it started to rain about 10 mins into our visit, so we toughed it out under the shaded section whilst everyone else ran for indoors - two northerners were not going to be put off roof top cocktails by a bit of rain.
"Never trust any complicated cocktail that remains perfectly clear until the last ingredient goes in, and then immediately clouds." - Terry Prachett
From the roof gardens we headed to the NICE restaurant, which is the training academy for young Namibian chefs. Very nice to be in a proper restaurant with white table cloths and all that jazz. The place was lovely and the service very good, sadly one of the meals contained off fish, which was beyond unpleasant, however a good replacement was served and the evening was saved. After a few Amarula's we finally stumbled to our town abode.
Having not been able to get on the same transfer out of town, I was heading out early afternoon. So spend the morning in the mall shopping and relaxing. About 2pm I got picked up and after a few more pick ups we headed out to the coast. It rained most of the way - even in the desert and it was weird to see puddles amongst the sand. Lionel Richie and the BeeGees accompanied the journey.
"Taking time to sit back and watch and think what you've seen is important. Travelling sis a great deal to me. I found that when I travel and just sit in the corner and watch, a million ideas come to me." - Lionel Richie
Having dropped a bewildered Swedish couple to a skanky taxi rank on the outskirts of the town and watching them get into a cab with the driver, some bird who had a pee by the side of the road in front of us all and their mate in the back, we said a little prayer for them and headed to various hotels before we were finally dropped to ours.
Lovely little guest house, where the rooms looked very like one would do out a room in clapham / balham in an old build. It was still raining heavily so we got wrapped up and headed to a restaurant in an old lighthouse building for a pizza and some vino. Swakop was dead by 11ish and we were the lazy in the restaurant and on the streets it seemed - on a Saturday evening too!
After a breakfast served on the patio we headed out to have a look round the shops, have a coffee in a lovely garden cafe and buy a stone elephant that weighed a ton on the market. We wandered down the beach, even though the weather wasn't great and found somewhere that served ice cream. We saw a couple of dolphins swimming in the bay, which was a lovely surprise. Then had lunch in an old boat followed by a trip to the aquarium, where we got in for Namibian residents rates (all of a bank- breaking N$10 - 70p). After a slightly tipsy trip to see the fish and sting rays we found dinner in a lovely restaurant at the end of the jetty where the food was to die for - so good we ate there the day after for lunch after our massages.
More like bognor than swakop with the rare coastal rainy weather
Oldest building in Swakop
Jetty in the gloom
Looks much better once the sun picked up!
Stingrays
I think we can safely say we have a lovely relaxing time. Just what was needed. Maybe next time we might sample some of the sand-boarding, surfing, quad biking, boat tripping, sky diving etc etc that's on offer?! Or just relax with massages, food and lots of fizzy wine again!
"Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued." - Socrates
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