#FindingJozi: Red Bus Tour

When I went to London, I had three days to spend and I wanted to see as much of London as I could. Given that I was alone, the most cost effective way to do that was to do the hop-on-hop-off Red Bus Tour. For two days, it took me all over the most famous landmarks in London and I chose where to hop off and explore further on my own.

As with most people, I don’t know my own city well enough. Last week, I changed that by trying the Johannesburg Red Bus Tour. Although I had been to many of the stops on the itinerary, I hadn’t really done it as a tourist.

We took the Red City Tour and Soweto Combo. You can hop on at any of the stops but I suggest parking at Gold Reef City (parking is free) and starting from there. Here are all the stops:

- Gautrain Park Station

- Gandhi Square

- Carlton Centre

- James Hall Transport Museum

- Gold Reef City

- Apartheid Museum

- Mining District Walk

- Newtown

- Origins Centre at Wits

- Braamfontein

- Constitution Hill

- Back to Gautrain Park Station

We started with the Soweto Tour first which I recommend you do as well. The tour is done in a taxi so if you’ve never been in a taxi, you’ll get a taste of it here. The first taxi to Soweto leaves at 10am from Gold Reef City and because it was early in the morning, our group of 6 were the only ones in the taxi. It’s much more fun when you’re exploring with only your friends.

The Soweto Tour is a two hour tour with a guide explaining the history of Joburg, how Soweto came into being and how it has transformed over the years. The two hours is not enough to see everything in detail but it does touch on a little of everything so you can come back and do something specific in a bit more detail. We drove through most of the famous places in Soweto but our specific stops were:

- Soccer City (I’ve never seen Soccer City so quiet before, i.e. without a concert when I usually frequent this venue)

- Diep Kloof (The entrance of Soweto)

- Hector Pieterson Memorial (For a little bit of history not too far from where it all happened)

- Vilakazi Street (We walked past Mandela’s and Desmond Tutu’s houses)

- Kliptown (An amazing tribute to our constitution)

My crew in Soweto

A rather quiet Soccer City

If you look carefully, you can see someone bungee jumping!

Hector Pieterson Memorial

Craft market outside the Hector Pieterson Memorial

Desmond Tutu's house

A quote by Nelson Mandela

The pavement on Vilakazi street

The principles upon which our constitution is built

In no time, our Soweto Tour was over and we were back at Gold Reef City. We jumped on the bus and headed to the hipster hang-out – Braamfontein. Throughout the bus tour, there was running commentary of the interesting history of each area that we passed.

We soon got to Braamfontein and headed straight for lunch at Neighbourgoods Market. Given that we only had a day on the bus, in hindsight, we should have given this a miss. It is way too busy to try to fit in when you have other places to see. I would have rather scheduled this for another Saturday morning. Nevertheless, we checked out some cool stalls and as soon as we got (to the front of the queue to get) lunch, we were on our way to catch the next bus.

Because we spent so much time in Braamfontein and because things close early on the weekend, we weren’t able to do a proper tour of Constitution Hill. But we did get to check out the premises and give ourselves a tour.

The last stop we made was at Carlton Centre – once the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. A uniformed Red Bus Tour guide escorted us from the bus to the Top of Africa and back again. Although, I’ve never really had an issue in this part of town before, it is nice that the security of our tourists is being considered. We bought our tickets and went all the way to the 50^th floor. We did a walk around the entire floor checking out famous Joburg landmarks from a breath-taking bird’s eye view.

Will I do this again? Definitely…with friends that haven’t been before. Next time I will make sure that we are able to stop at the Apartheid Museum. This time I was just happy that I got to do the Soweto Tour.  

If you want to find out more, check out their website. 

Healthy eating at Nu Health Food Cafe

A few months ago, the fiancé decided we should try to eat healthier which I reluctantly had to go along with. I hate healthy eating because I like tasty food and let’s face it, although healthy food is good for you, it doesn’t really taste nice.

This weekend, I was invited to try out the health food sensation that Cape Town’s been enjoying for a while now, Nu Health Food Café in Waterfall Corner. I had a look at the menu and grimaced at the thought of how all those healthy ingredients would taste and I already decided that I’d probably stick with oats as the safe option.

When I got to their little café and spoke to the staff and eyed the other customer’s plates, I decided to be a bit more adventurous and I was not disappointed. This restaurant offers mostly vegan/vegetarian food with a few other protein options. Their aim is to provide an outlet for people to get healthy food that tastes good. I tried the breakfast wrap made with eggs, avo, tomato, rocket and mozzarella. The finance decided on an open smoked salmon omelette served with the creamiest avocado. I can’t believe how delicious the food tasted. I was also surprised at how light the meals were and I didn’t feel stuffed afterwards.

Speaking to the staff who worked at Nu Health Food Café, I was amazed at how passionate they are about their food – from the waiters to the managers. They work hard at sourcing the freshest organic ingredients, with no additives, all from within South Africa. You really can taste the freshness like with the avocados and the honey.

I know all about the honey because we were treated to a little bit of dessert after breakfast – gluten-free and sugar-free banana-coconut bread served with honey, slices of cinnamon-dusted banana and peanut butter. This did not look healthy at all and it tasted so sinfully decadent. I had so much fun cutting my bread up into little squares and deciding on a topping for every bite. This is the one dish that will keep me coming back to this restaurant and it is the dish you need to try!

The restaurant’s ingredients are halaal although their restaurant isn’t halaal-certified but they take their food preparation so seriously that they only use certain knives and chopping boards for certain ingredients to reduce the risk of cross contamination. I love that special attention because it really gives people a great deal of comfort especially if you’re restricted to eating certain foods for religious purposes.

They have a wide range of sugar-free hot drinks and smoothies made with their own low fat plain frozen yogurt. You can also have that frozen yogurt on its own or topped with an array of yummy bits like goji berries and flaked almonds.

We had breakfast at around 10am and it kept us full until 5pm. I love eating lots of little meals but I am definitely a believer in this low GI thing now – especially if it means I can eat a filling breakfast and have dessert for much less calories than my usual greasy breakfast fare.

I later tried the nu-green quinoa salad and given that I don’t like salads in general, it’s no surprise that this salad wasn’t too my taste – way too many raw ingredients for my liking. A lunch-time wrap that I can definitely recommend, though, is the iron kick. Among other ingredients, it’s made with chickpeas and lentils lightly spiced and wrapped in a low GI multigrain wrap.

If you’re keen to find out more, check out their amazing website, www.nufood.co.za – it breaks down every meal to its ingredients list and gives you the nutritional values. Or pop in to their café at Waterfall Corner and try it out for yourself.  

#FindingJozi: Fourways Farmer's Market

Oh the shock and horror of realising that I hadn't put up a new blog post in over a month! And it's not that I have nothing to write about; it's all the busy bits of life that just get in the way. Last Sunday, I decided to take a break from it all, gather some friends and chill at the Fourways Farmer's Market. This place isn't new to me but I liked it so much when I checked it out last year, that I decided it would be an awesome place to get some friends together for a catch up.

Seems like people need their morning cuppas on the weekends too

I've been to a few of these outdoors markets - it's a great way to catch some sun while checking out the artisanal food vibe. Stall vendors showcase their spreads of jewellery, fresh veggies, jams, biltong, ice-cream and anything else you can imagine and all of these aren't the normal flavoured stuff you find at the supermarket. I even have friends that frequent this joint for a specific brand of coffee that isn't readily available in Joburg.

Champagne breakfast!

I like trying out the different foods on offer. There's a huge variety of foods ranging from different cultures such as Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Asian and proudly South African cuisine. The balkan burger is a firm favourite and I just love Vuyo's fancy boerewors rolls. You know Vuyo from the Hansa Pilsner ads? The story is real!

Vuyo's boerwors rolls

There are plenty of places to sit down on the picnic benches or tree stumps near the craft beer stalls to enjoy a drink or food and listen to the live entertainment which is mostly just background noise while you're busy browsing through the stalls. When I'm done walking around, I like finding a quiet little spot to just enjoy the feeling of the sun on my skin and the music drifting through the air. All that's missing is a place to nap ;-).

Mmmm delicious fried foods

There's also a nursery on the premises. I usually find that area to not be as crowded as the rest like on today's busy Mother's Day.

Pulled pork and other meaty stuff

If you're looking for something chilled to do on a Sunday morning, try Fourways Farmer's Market. This market is open every Sunday from 9 - 2 and is right across the road from Montecasino. Bring your kids and your dogs.