Festive Lights and Moody Skies at Melrose Arch, Johannesburg

Seasons Greetings! Merry Christmas! Hanukkah Sameach! We are in Johannesburg and visited the famous Christmas lights at Melrose Arch to see what the fuss was about. After days of increasingly hot temperatures, the weather finally broke, and it began pouring with rain as we emerged from the underground parking.

Summer is the rainy season in Johannesburg, so it becomes uncomfortably hot and sticky when it's not raining, to the extent that it was all we could talk about for days. Once the rain had passed, we began to explore the illuminations.

When the rain stopped, we noticed that the sky began to glow with very interesting reds, oranges and pinks.

None of these photos have been touched up or filtered, so you can see how eerie the sky was.

We visited the March Hare. I enjoyed seeing Melrose Arch as it was the last place I worked before leaving South Africa in 2007. I was property manager for the fancy apartments there.

Once the rain stopped, people began to pour out of the many restaurants and coffee shops to explore the lights. It's the height of summer here, so most people were dressed in short sleeves and summer clothing.

I couldn't resist capturing Santa and his sleigh, flying across that Christmas-red sky.

I sat by this star for some time, chatting to my nieces, while their dad arranged a bumper order of handmade ice creams.

We paid a visit to see Rudolph, waiting patiently in line for a photo because he is a very popular reindeer.

After enjoying an iced-coffee at Paul, we took a final walk along the lights, people watching and taking in the sights.

I liked this bauble-shaped illumination, see here the top corner of the display as we looked down the Christmas lights trail.

This fairy-shaped illumination was my favourite light of all. I loved the petal details in her skirt.

As we began to walk towards the car, I remarked that we'd timed our visit perfectly because it was starting to get very busy indeed.

We took a last look at the giant boot and tried to work out if we were seeing lollipops in a top hat.

With a final look at the lights, we escaped the crowds and muggy heat for the air-conditioned comfort of our car.

The Melrose Arch Christmas Lights run from mid-November to early January each year.

Melrose Arch
22 Crescent Drive
Johannesburg
2196