Oh my hat! This town was always just a pass through on the way to the Garden Route. Fascinating to hear about all this history! Makes me sorry I didnt stop and do some research back then
We agree, we intended spending perhaps an hour or so here, but the history lessons just kept on coming. We could've very easily spent the entire day here. 🤩
I make notes of the places I love, and maybe visit one day, God willing, and I also share them with my cousin who has an apartment in Cape Town and also has a son married and has his own home in the Cape as well. She's been all over the world and now since her husband is late Jo'burg where the eldest son is and Cape Town is it.
What a good idea to make notes of the places you'd like to visit. You guys should definitely visit Heidelberg! We had absolutely no idea what waited for us in this obscure town right off the N2. If you're up to it, you can walk to all the different places of interest in town. There is just so much to see. We were super surprised by this place and loved every moment. You will too. 😁🚗
Very interesting about Napolean's sword bearer! It's also interesting that you've not had roosterkoek before (we used to make it in the Voortrekkers in primary school). Perhaps it's fitting that this is also the 1st episode where I heard you speak Afrikaans, as you had some boere kos at the start of the episode!
I was interested why this town was named Heidelberg, especially since Heidelberg, Germany, was where my sons' grandmother was born and raised. So, I Googled it and found out that a German who'd founded a trading station there in 1862 had named it after his alma mater, Heidelberg University.
A lot of these historic towns have these walking tours where you can read up on the history as you follow the heritage trail. I took my parents to Barberton in Mpumplanga last year December, and the heritage walking tour was very interesting, it took you to some historic houses that were built during the gold rush. The house and contents haven't changed since that time period. Heidelberg is definitely a town I'll be visiting when I decide to do the Garden Route, I like visiting these old towns and learning about its history.
Thank you for sharing the interesting info about Barberton! We'll definitely remember that as we work our way towards Mpumalanga. 👌🏻 One of us has a serious knee issue, so walking tours are unfortunately out for us, but we try and drive by all these interesting places. 🚗👌🏻
@@DustBugsTravel, yeah I tend to do the self walk tours by car any way, as usually each attraction is usually several 100 meters from the previous one so driving to each attraction seems to be a better option
@@DustBugsTravel just note that when you decide to start traveling through the Free State many of the back roads are littered in potholes. Recently experienced many of those potholes when road tripping to Graaff-Reinet. The western side of Free State is far more scenic than the central and northern, unfortunately it's the worst section with the potholes
Roosterkoek is delicious and fairly ubiquitous these days in SA. Heidleberg left its mark on me - its a gorgeous place full of beautiful buildings and really nice people.
Fully agree on all points. We saw roosterkoek signs almost everywhere we travelled on this trip and they were delicious. 😁 We also found Heidelberg an incredibly interesting town and enjoyed getting to know a small part of it.
