South Africa Guide
Free State
Bloemfontein
BLOEMFONTEIN is located at the crossroads of South Africa, which means that many travellers break their journey across the country here. There's enough diversion for a day or two in Bloemfontein's surprisingly fine Oliewenhuis Art Gallery, set in beautiful gardens, and in the unmistakably provincial President Brand Street, lined with handsome, sandstone public buildings.
As an overnight stop, the city offers good accommodation at reasonable prices, upmarket shopping centres and a couple of nightlife opportunities. People home in from all over the Free State for hospital treatment, for the university and boarding schools. As Free State's heavyweight city, Bloem (as it is usually called) is also the seat of the provincial parliament and South Africa's Court of Appeal. It's also a thriving international centre for gliding, the flatness of the local terrain and the hot summer weather producing some of the world's finest thermals.
If you're around in September, try to catch the ten-day Manguang African Cultural Festival, which fills the city with storytelling, poetry, art, music and dance and attracts people from all over the country ( 
www.macufe.co.za ). Otherwise, on April 28, there's the popular Granaat Music Festival.
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