Travel Tips for Beginners

This has been one of the greatest sites I've ever visited on the planet. This hidden gem of nature. It is an absolute must for any nature-traveler to visit the glorious granite rocks of Paarl. Charles Darwin visited these rocks on the 4th of June 1836 during his Beagle expedition and he must have been as amazed as I, seeing these products of nature. Walking on these remnants of volcanic activity just re-affirms how great this world of ours is and what great wonders there are, all around us. It also showed me how great it is to travel and to discover and experience these wonders. View of  Gordon's Rock on Paarl Mountain, South Africa There are three massive granite rock outcrops on the Paarl Mountain, namely Bretagne Rock, Paarl Rock and Gordon's Rock. The biggest rock accessible to the public is Bretagne Rock. It has a chain running up to the top, to assist us normal folk in ascending this jewel of South Africa. The chain was added to the rock in 1925 to assist the...

I visited the beautiful town of Paarl , 60 kilometres from Cape Town, in South Africa a couple of weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised seeing this community at the southern point of Africa living a very much European lifestyle. The town is engulfed in its history, with countless historic buildings lining its roads. Most of the old part of town has got beautiful old oak trees planted in the 1700's. Afrikaans Language Monument on Paarl Mountain. The first European to set foot in the valley was a man called Abraham Gabemma, in 1657 sent from the fort in Cape Town by the then governor, Jan van Riebeeck to barter cattle with the local natives called the Khoi and San people. As Abraham Gabema entered the valley he saw the sun shining on the huge granite outcrops on the mountain that was wet as a result of rain earlier on the same day. The glare from the rocks reminded him of pearls and he promptly called the mountain Parel mountain which means pearl in Dutch. This name has chan...