July 1: Getting to know Port Elizabeth.

After two days driving we were super excited to finally arrive in Port Elizabeth. A beach town in the Eastern Cape, PE (as it is known here in South Africa) is a lovely small town with a beautiful little downtown area. The city was founded in 1820 to house British settlers to reinforce the border between Cape Town and Xhosa (danke Wikipedia!).

We are staying at a Bed & Breakfast in Humewood and are very well accommodated! The city is very cute, borders the coast and has that beachy feeling we all love so much.

For lunch, we went to the Phoenix Hotel. The first hotel in PE which was built in the mid 1800′s. There was an ad placed for it in the London newspapers dated 1877, which I personally think is quite cool, inviting people to stay at the best hotel in the Colony. The hotel was bought a few years ago by Warwick, who manages it until today. I have to say it is one of the coolest places I have been so far. I am keen on historical structures, but this one also had amazing steak!

And what a steak! Warwick took amazing care of us and I can definitely say that coming to PE and not going to the Phoenix Hotel to eat steak is a sin! We also tried a shot of Amarula with Mint – a local mix and a great digestive!

To digest such glorious food we took a walk downtown and saw the Main Library and Queen Victoria’s statue (which made me think of a certain British boy I miss so much).

For dinner? More prawns and calamari. And oysters! Christina has introduced me to them (Ana, Oysters. Oysters, Ana) and we got along very well. I never really thought these weird looking jelly things could be so good.

Tomorrow is a big day: Brazil v Netherlands. Vai Brasil!!!