South Africa - Pretoria
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Pretoria doesn’t have a great deal to offer the tourist as it’s a typical administrative city where office blocks predominate.One set of buildings worth making a detour to are the Union Buildings, which are home to the Government and the buildings where Nelson Mandela was sworn in as President in 1994.
The imposing building is just over a century old and built of light sandstone. Surrounded by beautiful terraced gardens, full of indigenous plants and statues of notable worthies, with one standing out above all others.
Dominating the gardens is a 9 metre (30 foot) tall statue of Nelson Mandela, arms outstretched - a fitting tribute to the larger than life man.
Memorials to the fallen in two World Wars and to police killed in action are to be found at the upper levels of the garden.
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