Aruba was nice, and I enjoyed our day there, but Curaçao blew me away. Willemstad, the capital, is stunning, and it only takes one look to see why it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city is wrapped around a beautiful harbor that spreads out into several smaller branches that can be crossed by small drawbridges. You can stroll across the wider main channel on a clever motorized pontoon footbridge that can swing to one side to let larger ships pass through. When the pontoon bridge is pulled off to the side, there is a free ferry that goes back and forth carrying pedestrians from one side of the city to the other. Very cool.
The downtown area is a delight, with the buildings painted in a wide array of pretty colors. Many of them have murals painted on their sides, and some of them are really quite spectacular. The entrance to the harbor is guarded by an old fort constructed of coral, kind of a neat way to enter the city if you’re arriving by cruise ship.
In the morning we took a relatively short bus tour that took us around the city and over the highest bridge in the Caribbean. The best, and last stop on the excursion was a visit to the premier Curacao distillery on the island, operated by the Senior family. There we learned that the color of the Curacao is irrelevant, as it all tastes the same. More importantly, we got to taste three different varieties of flavored Curacao, my favorite being the chocolate. Afterwards, I wandered over to the bar and ordered a Chobolobo Mudslide, which I subsequently declared to be the world’s best smoothie. Ingredients: vanilla, coffee liqueur, cappuccino, chocolate liqueur, and chocolate sauce. Wowza!
After lunch back at the ship Michele and I disembarked and walked back into town, taking some time to enjoy many of the sites we drove past on our morning bus tour. The weather was nice—sunny and warm with a strong breeze, though a bit humid. We got some great photos and just enjoyed wandering around one of the prettiest cities I’ve visited in a long time.
Aruba is nice, and it has great beach resorts and more name recognition, but Curaçao is a real gem, and between the two I’d pick Curaçao as the island I’d like to visit again. Check out a few of my photos, and I think you’ll see what I mean.
Tomorrow we’ll be at the third of the ABC Dutch islands, Bonaire. Who knows, maybe I’ll like that one even more.
This is the lengthy motorized pontoon walking bridge that crosses the harbor near its mouth. This photo was taken just as it began to cross and reopen after retracting to allow a large ship to pass through.
Mural by a well known local artist.
Another beautiful mural.
The churches are beautiful too.
Beautiful downtown Willemstad from the Queen Emma bridge, the world's longest pontoon bridge.
Drawbridge over one of the small branches of the harbor.
One of the forts guarding the entrance to the harbor. The forts were built of coral.
At the Curacao distillery. The liqueur comes in lots of pretty colors.
My Chobolobo Mudslide, the world's best frostie (prove me wrong 😀).
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