I have had the privilege of knowing Marco Cianfanelli since he was a Fine Arts and Art History student at Wits many years back and have followed his career with great interest.  I was of course well aware of his monumental sculpture of Mandela constructed at the site of Mandela’s capture near Howick on that [...]

 
I was lucky enough to have a few days break a couple of weeks ago – my locum was free to step in here at Liz at Lancaster and friends in Southbroom down on the South Coast had agreed to have me to stay for a few days. So I set off on the road [...]

The face of the travel and tourism industry is changing rapidly, not only in the way that people access information on their holiday destinations, but also the kind of travelers and the experiences they are looking for. According to Google,  19% of hotel queries came through mobiles in 2012 , and it is predicted that [...]

One of the best things about running a guesthouse is all the interesting people we meet from all over the world.  One such person is Pat Walker who runs Cultural Explorer.  Pat, a remarkable woman with boundless energy and a wonderful sense of humour, runs tours to South Africa which focus on volunteer, cultural, or [...]

The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation runs weekly tours usually on Saturday afternoons. What makes them special is that they explore interesting parts of Johannesburg, often include unusual places and spaces that are off-the-tourist-route, and they are often walking tours. They also sometimes do bus tours (like the Parktown Garden Tour on Sun 17th Feb and the [...]

Towards the end of last year I went on a tour with the Joburg Heritage Foundation of  two buildings in Pretoria which have a lot in common – both are religious buildings, both use imported architectural  language and foreign materials, both are constructed with exquisite detail, and both are breathtakingly beautiful. But when it comes [...]

Cycling is becoming an increasingly popular way of seeing local Joburg sites and sights.  Lebo of  Sowetobicycle tours has for many years offered cycling tours.  There are various options on offer starting from a 2 hour tour which includes a visit to a worker’s hostel, the Hector Pieterson Museum as well as the route of [...]

Here’s a copy of an Email received from Theresa  (booking enquiry)  to Chris on Radio Today:
I have been looking for a month’s accommodation for someone and made contact with Liz at Lancaster Guest House. She did not have availability – but she PHONED all the guesthouses in the area in order to be able [...]

Getting around Joburg without your own car is a challenge.  For more on this see http://www.lizatlancaster.co.za/info/transport.html.     However, various initiatives and infrastructural developments have been introduced with varying degrees of success.  The Gautrain running between the airport,  Pretoria and Joburg Central, with stops on the way, is very fast, clean, safe and  effective but unfortunately quite [...]

Liz at Lancaster Guesthouse has been selected as the Gauteng regional winner in the category Guest House with breakfast, in the 2012 AA Accommodation Awards. We will go forward to the National Awards Evening which will take place on Thursday 30th August at a Gala Banquet to be held at the [...]