Beautiful Bulawayo

I hadn't particularly expected to like Bulawayo. I was looking forward to being with Peter as he found (or didn't find) the houses where he had lived as a child and young man. Though I had worried a bit that things might have got so bad in the last couple of decades that he would be sad and upset. As our train approached Bulawayo central station I thought worries were going to be well justified. We passed rusty, dusty, broken down train after rusty, dusty, broken down train as we came through what had been the marshalling yards of a huge busy station. When we came in to the station it was deserted apart from us passengers disembarking. The front of the station was the same. There was not even a taxi to be seen.

But things got quickly better. Peter went out for a quick walk round the centre (our hotel was very central) and came back beaming. He had loved recognising buildings he remembered. Moreover he had enjoyed seeing people dressed to the nines entering City Hall for a very colourful Arts festival/competition. So things were looking up almost at once.

Indeed they were. This is a lovely city. Yes, it's getting worn round the edges. Yes, it's getting shabby. Yes, it is clear that its once thriving industry and railway business are in dire straits. Yes, no matter who you talk to (relatively poor or not) that after a bit they will mention (matter of factly, rather than whinging or begging) just how hard it has been these last years. And so on. But the people are unfailingly polite and sweet-tempered, laughing easily and - nice for us - not bothering us obvious strangers at all, even though we were the only white people we could see in the city centre. In the suburbs, on the other hand, there are lots more white people to be seen. But we'll try and write another whole blog post about all this.

So why do we find it so beautiful? The streets are extraordinarily wide, with mostly low-rise buildings on either side. This makes for a place full of light and sky. Oh and the double row of parked cars in the middle of the street in the city centre is very useful as a safe stopping place when crossing the street.

Peter adds that the streets were designed to be wide enough for an ox wagon with 16 oxen to do a U turn. 

Not only are the streets wide but they are full of big trees, here in the suburbs.

And here in the city.

Currently the brilliant red flamboyants are in flower. Later on the jacarandas will turn both the city centre and the suburbs a lovely purple. Meanwhile, they are lovely in their own right, never mind waiting for the blossom.

The trees give shade, but there are also colonnaded, covered pavements everywhere. They are part of the colonial architecture which is everywhere, saved, perhaps, by the continuing economic problems. We kept taking pictures of it.

And of other pieces of newer architecture.

In fact it was interesting that all the problems do not stop the civic pride which keeps the City Hall looking beautiful.

And, of course, Zimbawean sculpture is internationally celebrated. We have to admit that we also liked the interactive embellishment of one piece in the City Hall grounds as well as its more artistic merit.

 Here I am enjoying the flowers in a suburban street...

...and here is Peter enjoying a coffee shop in a suburban supermarket.