Prince Albert’s marvellous mayor and cultural characters; getting to Prince Albert; staying with Linda and André; the Swartberg Hotel and bobotie; charming townscape and dream houses; bin art; local produce: unrivalled EVOO, unpasteurised dairy and unmissable lamb; Striking Metal and Karoo Looms, plus samoosas to die for; you can check out any time you like…

Before I go on, the Prince Albert restaurant featured above is called The Rude Chef, and we hear that the owner can be blunt at times. But she was as sweet as pie when we had dinner there with Linda and André on our first night… and that was despite the electrical blackout that mostly came and sometimes went.

I’ve blogged about Prince Albert before: click here for my 2018 story, if you like. But here are my current Top 10 reasons to visit this Great Karoo dorp.

#1 Its Marvellous Mayor

Apart from its being so exceptionally karaktervol (full of character, or even characters), what takes Roy and me back there is that our friends Linda and André retired to the town more than 20 years ago after their long careers in the South African diplomatic corps. And now, after two decades of service to the community, Linda is the hard-working Mayor of Prince Albert.

For her sins, she might say, having fortitudinously steered the town through the vicissitudes of central governmental ineptitude in general and its woeful handling of the dreadful COVID-crisis in particular. (My words, not hers. And though as an old friend I’m naturally biased, it has to be said that she’s a bloody marvellous human being.)

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#2 Culture Vultures

Apart from serving the working farming community around it, Prince Albert is a thriving tourism magnet. Its population includes a lot of sometimes-retired “professors and experts in botany, anthropology, astronomy, gastronomy, art, film-making and photography”, according to getaway.co.za. Many of them contribute to the town’s impressive list of cultural events: apart from the annual Prince Albert Town Festival in April, there are festivals of olives, books, films and art, plus winter schools for artists, jewellers, writers and chefs. This is a busy little place!

#3 Getting there

Getting to Prince Albert from Cape Town is an experience in itself: a picturesque four-hour drive that includes a couple of mountain passes. The town itself is just 2km away from the foot of the spectacular Swartberg Pass, opened to the public in 1886. It’s also just two hours from the popular Garden Route, a 300km stretch of scenic coastline in the southwestern Cape Province.

Excuse any blurriness in these pics: Roy is famously reluctant to pull over for a photo-stop, even at the best of times. So it follows that a slight curve in the road, or the distant presence of another vehicle, real or imagined, will put stopping out of the question.

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#4 Staying with André and Linda

Their lovely old farmhouse on the outskirts of town has a spacious and self-sufficient guest cottage. The grounds are populated with a pack of friendly rescue dogs, an olive grove (see the big pic below) that is more productive some years than others, and a big pond for ducks and geese.

A while ago, our friends had sold these delightful sheep to their local handyman, who was painting their house when we visited. But there was some sort of difficulty keeping them wherever he had taken them; so they agreed that he could bring back the little flock, now his, to safely graze while he was slapping the paint on. (Do let me know if that’s incorrect, Linda.)

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Where you could stay

Granted, you probably won’t be staying in our friends’ guest cottage. Fortunately, there’s plenty of accommodation to choose from, including cottages, guest houses, B&Bs and even farm accommodation.

Just for starters, here’s the fanciest-looking hostelry in town, the Swartberg Hotel.

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#5 Prince Albert Townscape

I found that I couldn’t just tack on a note about Prince Albert to my most Cape Town blog, as I’d originally planned. Having taken so many shots of stunning architecture, including ornate Victorian, sumptuous Art Deco, traditional Cape Dutch and quaint Karoo-style buildings, I had to share them. And how blue is that sky?

The NG Kerk, Kerk Straat

The Showroom Theatre

Lazy Lizard

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#6 Dream Houses

It’s delightful to simply wander the streets, greeting the residents, admiring the houses and peering discreetly into their gorgeous gardens. Their lushness is wholly due to the historic system of leiwater – a linked network of channels providing run-off water from the Swartberg mountains to residents with water rights.

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#7 Bin Art in Prince Albert

One of many to be found all over town, here’s a whimsical example of Prince Albert’s unique bin art.

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#8 Made in Prince Albert

 

Prince Albert Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I love eating and drinking local fare whenever possible. Prince Albert Extra Virgin Olive Oil in its distinctive yellow tin is one of the Great Karoo’s most famous products, and you can buy this deliciously throat-tickling, polyphenol-rich nectar in delis and supermarkets throughout South Africa.

Gay’s Dairy

Apart from olives and olive oil, the Karoo is also famous for lamb and for sun-ripened figs, apricots and other fruit. On the outskirts of Prince Albert is Gay’s Dairy: I dearly wish I had daily access to the wholesome unpasteurised milk, yoghurt and cheese from her Guernsey flock.

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#9 Arts & Crafts: Karoo Souk

You could spend most of a day, not to mention a small fortune if you felt moved to do so, at the creative centre in Prince Albert’ so-called industrial area. Known as Karoo Souk, the space is shared by a fabulous blacksmith’s forge called Striking Metal and Karoo Looms, a traditional weavery.

 

#10 Koppie Koffie Samoosas

As you might expect, Prince Albert has more than its fair share of good cafés and restaurants. But what stood out for me this time was the rack of freshly fried-up Malay-style samoosas at Koppie Koffie, which is part of Karoo Souk (see above).

 

 

Given the chance, what would you order from Koppie Koffie? Here’s the menu, so you can have a proper look; and, especially if you’re South African, a good drool.

 

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Postlogue: On a dark desert highway

(… you can check out any time you like…)

Leaving Prince Albert on the appointed morning proved a bit difficult, as local authorities had closed the road to Meiringspoort because of flooding due to heavy rain. It stayed closed for more than 24 hours, delaying a long line of heavy-duty vehicles. Luckily, we were held up for just a couple of hours before heading to the coastal town of George for our flight to Durban the next day.

From what sceptical locals and disgruntled lorry-drivers said, together with the ease with which we eventually forded the minimally flooded stretch of road, the extended delay in opening the route may not have been strictly necessary; and possibly influenced by a profit motive on the part of the owners of the contract vehicles engaged to clear the way. Conspiracy theory? Who are we to say?

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What’s up Next?

Coming up next on Travels with Verne and Roy will be: possibly something on our upcoming getaway to Yallingup in the wonderful Margaret River region of Western Australia (yes, again); and then the grand finale of This is the House that Roy and Verne Built. Obedient as ever to my husband’s guidance, I’m holding off on this one until two last jobs have been done: (a) the lift has been commissioned; and (b) the landscaping is complete.

Meanwhile, we’re blissfully happy-ever-aftering here in Iluka, Western Australia… at least until we head off at the end of March for two months: a 30-day cruise from Sydney to Seattle, followed by four weeks in Canada and the US West Coast.