Port Elizabeth

The road of riches

...Such are the joys of the Garden Route that it is easy to spend a week just mooching along this coastline. We have flown into Port Elizabeth, the first major centre at the eastern end of the Garden Route, with some trepidation. In the annals of apartheid this lovely town, with its long, flat beaches and relaxed atmosphere, is remembered as the place where Steve Biko was bashed while in custody in 1977. He died after being taken to Pretoria. If you know Peter Gabriel's song Biko, it is impossible to arrive in Port Elizabeth without the words of the opening verse echoing in your mind: 'September '77 / Port Elizabeth, weather fine / It was business as usual / In police room 619."