Pics: Rediscovering the old magic of Raffles at the Maharani Hotel and North Beach, Durban

The Maharani Hotel is still the grand Empress years later. Don’t bother to visit,” they told me. “There is nothing to see in North Beach,Durban.” I can still hear those voices as I pull up in front of the iconicSouthern Sun Maharani Hotel.

As I step out of the car, a massive cloud bursts overhead, drenching the pavement (and me!). For a split second, ducking my head against the downpour, I wonder if I should have listened to the skeptics.Was the downpour an omen of what I was to find? I can still hear those voices as I pull up in front of the iconicSouthern Sun Maharani Hotel.

For a split second, ducking my head against the downpour, I wonder if I should have listened to the skeptics. Then, in a flash, the skepticism is washed away. I step into the splendour of the Maharani Hotel and the memories come flooding in.

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That outside glass lift ride to the top of the hotel is legendary but no longer exists. The magnificent entrance today of the Maharani Hotel. Stairway inside the Maharani pictured this past weekend.

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