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Port Elizabeth Accommodation: Near by towns with accommodation:
Addo Accommodation | Jeffreys Bay Accommodation | St Francis Bay Accommodation
Cape St Francis Accommodation | Sunland Accommodation | Uitenhage Accommodation
Port Elizabeth konwn as 'Die Baai') or known as Madiba Bay is a city in South Africa, situated in the Eastern Cape Province, 770km east of Cape Town. The city, often shortened to PE and nicknamed "The Friendly City" or "The Windy City", stretches for 16km along Algoa Bay, and is one of the major seaports in South Africa.
Port Elizabeth was founded as a town in 1820 to house British settlers as a way of strengthening the border region between the Cape Colony and the warlike Xhosa tribe. It now forms part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality which has a population of over 1 milion.
The Port Elizabeth harbour, waterfront and city centre are in the process of being upgraded before the 2010 Football World Cup, and are expected to rival the popular Cape Town waterfront. The city is one of the venues for World Cup games, and many more visitors are expected. To this end, there are calls for Port Elizabeth Airport to be upgraded, to ease the journey time and effort both for World Cup teams and spectators, and also more generally for tourists.
Port Elizabeth lies on the N2 road. To the west the road travels the picturesque Garden Route to George and Cape Town; to the east, the road runs through the so-called Border Country through Grahamstown, to East London then on to Durban, finally terminating in Ermelo in Mpumalanga. Regional roads also connect PE with the Transkei.
The city main bus station is in Market Square.
Port Elizabeth is also served by South Africa's rail network. Local commuter services are operated by Metrorail, while the Shosholoza Meyl long-distance passenger service links PE with Johannesburg via Bloemfontein where it is possible to connect with other long-distance routes.
The Windy City" has a subtropical climate with light rain throughout the year. The area lies between the winter rainfall, Mediterranean climate zones of the Western Cape and the summer rainfall regions of eastern South Africa. Winters are cool but mild and summers are warm but considerably less humid and hot than more northerly parts of South Africa's east coast
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