Curacao - a charming, colorful island

Curacao is a small island between the islands of Aruba and Bonaire (the 3 known as the ABC islands) and 35 miles from the Venezuelan coast. This was our first visit to Curacao (pronounced kyur uh sow) known for its colorful buildings. I found the 'tropicalized' Dutch architecture in Willemstad's oldest neighborhood (dating to 1684) quite charming. The story goes that the buildings were painted in colorful hues because an early Govenor of Curacao suffered from migraines that were aggravated by the white paint that originally covered the walls. It was later discovered that said governor was a part-owner of the island's only paint store!!!

View of Willemstad from the ship

We set out to do a walking tour of Willemstad, which is split into 2 districts, the Otrabanda where the cruise ships dock and the Punda, the more historical part of the city--one on each side of a narrow but deep channel, traversable by a landmark floating pedestrian bridge, the Queen Emma Bridge known to locals as "The Old Swinging Lady", as it swings open to allow passage to boats and some ships. Our walk took us along the waterfront, across the floating bridge, and into narrow streets lined with shops, shops, and more shops. We walked past the floating market, which is held every morning. Locals bring in fruits and vegetables by boat, and set up a stand to sell right on the waterfront alongside their boats.

The "floating market"

Floating market boats of the vendors

On the Queen Emma Floating Bridge

While we were walking around the town, the bridge opened up and we sat to watch the ship traffic sail by. When the bridge is open, there is a free ferry to take people across the channel. Since the bridge remained opened for quite a while, we opted to take the ferry back over to the other side so we could go through the Kura Hulanda Museum. "This museum exhibits the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in its totality, from slave capture in Africa through the Middle Passage and the relocation in the New World. The museum reveals how African and other diverse cultural heritages have influenced our societies today." It was certainly impressive and well done. The harbor of Willemstad was where Dutch entrepreneurs once traded and shipped enslaved Africans. The Africans often stayed 2-3 years on the island so they could be 'trained' as slaves (and spirits broken) before being sold to landowners in America.

Walking the floating bridge

The slave museum.  This device prevented sleeping and escaping

The colorful buildings of Willemstad

The afternoon's required activity--LOL

It was a hot and humid day....we are only 16 degrees above the equator. Everyone from the northern states which have had such a long winter are not complaining! LOL

Next day is a sea day as we head east to Grenada.
For those of you following us on Facebook, I am actually posting this to our travel blog: http://angelltravels.blogspot.com It eventually ends up on our Facebook page. Thank you for the comments along the way. The ship's internet service is very slow so we can't always connect or have the time to answer each of you.