Johannesburg, E?goli, place of gold by cosmopolit
What goes for most major cities applies on Jo'burg too. Lots of hustle bustle plus some very nice sights.Though nowadays I'm not sure whether it's still save to explore on foot as it used to be.
The city today has progressed far beyond the status of a mere gold rush settlement, becoming a vibrant, violent and unpredictable place, where fortunes as well as lives can be lost and found like a small child?s toys.
New commercial, retail and industrial districts have risen to replace the towering yellow mine dumps.
In ancient cities, one may be able to find a sense of permanence within the walls of a formidable fortress but Johannesburg is a city in flux, a place where change is the only enduring feature.
Technology may have claimed the mine sands but millions of trees have risen from the sprawling suburbs an unexpected backdrop to a formidable array of Victorian and Edwardian architecture, as well as concrete, chrome and glass skyscrapers.My oldest memory, it was back in 88 under apartheid when I got to Jo'burg for the first time.
Makeshift shacks of scrap, reflected in the glossy glass façade of the old Johannesburg Stock Exchange building on Diagonal Street, bear testimony to the chasm between the fantastically wealthy and the desperately poor that still divides this city.
I wanted to know what it was like and had to see both. So I also went to Soweto only to discover the most unexpected situation under given circumstances but this is rather travelogue stuff...
