Curacao. Wow!
Written: Jul 27 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's beautiful and very unlike your typical Caribbean Vacation
Cons: Things are a little slower here
The Bottom Line: A sure thing for a relaxing, cultural vacation.
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| christalgamble's Full Review: Curaçao |
My fiancee and I have the same birthday (June 19) and we make it a habit to be "unavailable" on that particular date. So to make a long story short - we travel - preferrably out of the country. On this particular birthday (2001) we chose and mix of Curacao and Jamaica. I'll be covering the Curacao portion of our trip. First off, a little association. For anyone who doesn't know anything Curacao, it's part of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao)owned by the Dutch. Natives of Curacao speak Papiamentu which is a cross between Dutch, Spanish and English. But don't worry, English is prevalent. A quick side note - Curacao will not be changing their currency to the Euro and American dollars are widely accepted. Also Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves is from Curacao. I like to travel all-inclusive and in late 2001 Breezes Curacao (part of SuperClubs)opened. This was our chosen resort for our vacation. From the plane you could see the entire island. The airport is very tiny and Air Jamaica has flights into Curacao about 3 days a week. As soon as you step off the plane the heat (and the wind) hits you head on. Tradewinds are very strong but they feel wonderful while lounging on a beach. We pick up our bags and a transfer to our hotel. Once there we were greeted with champagne and fruit punch. Our room was supposed to be a smaller gardenview room but to our surprise the manager at Breezes Richard Bourke had not only upgraded our room to a larger oceanview room but had champagne waiting for us in out room as well. All this because I had sent him a friendly email requesting any perks he could offer. Thanks Richard! Anyway, we lounged in the room for a while (which was tastefully decorated and very clean) then headed out to browse the property. The beach is beautiful to look at but a little rocky to walk on. I had already anticipated this before leaving because of a few posts I had read about Curacao and we had no problems since we brought with us $5 aqua socks from Walmart. There were plenty of bars serving premium liquor so I began right off drinking my favorite drink the entire trip - Strawberry Daquiris with Malibu Coconut Rum. Breezes Curacao had a very laid back atmosphere. You could eat when you wanted, drink when you wanted and lie around all day in the sun if you wanted to. I came prepared with plenty of insect repellant (I was thinking Curacao would be tropical like Mexico) but I did not see a single mosquito. The water here is safe to drink and the food excellent. We ate at both resturants and the buffet and had wonderful meals and great service at them all. Breezes outdid themselves. I don't swim but fellow vacationers took advantage of complimentary snorkling, windsailing and diving. It looked fun but I was just fine being lazy on the beach. The entire resort was A+. Midway through our 4 day stay we went into Willemstad to shop. A free bus leaves the hotel twice a day into town so along with the ride we got a quick tour and history of Curacao. I'm a big reader of Travel Mags like Conde Nash so I had a specific destination in town in mind but it was good to hear the bus driver mention the sites for those who didn't know what to do once we got into town. Willemstad is broken up into 2 sections separated by water but joined together by the Queen Anne floating bridge. Punda which mean "the point" and Otrabanda which mean "the other side". Punda has the best shopping but Otrobanda has some of the most authentic sites. The entire waterfront is covered with pastel covered building supposedly because a former governor who said that the whitewashed walls gave him headaches deemed that all the buildings be painted. We we dropped off on the Punda side but quickly crossed the floating bridge (It literally floats and "swings" open to let boats pass through)to the Otrobanda side. We were headed for the Kula Hulanda Museum. Jakob Dekker, a dutch resident of Curacao opened a slavery and African history musuem for the people of Curacao to remind them of their roots. Since Curacao used to be an important port in the slave trade, it seemed very appropriate to find this museum here - and very sobering. However if we don not remember our past we are doomed to repeat it. So I felt this was a very important stop on our visit. The museum in built in a large circle of buildings with a central "Mother Africa" sculpture in the center. It guides you through history starting with ancient Africa, migrating through the slave trade and on through America's very own civil rights movement. It was wonderful to leave Atlanta for vacation and to be reminded that Martin Luther King's influence spread worldwide. This museum is a must if you plan to visit Curacao. After our visit to the museum see headed back to the Punda side (via a free ferry this time since the bridge was open) and bought Dutch Wooden shoes and bottles of Curacao (the liquor) for souvenirs. This was a wonderful vacation and we definitely plan to return.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
christalgamble
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Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Hi! I'm a 25 year old Art Consultant and practicing Fine Artist living in Atlanta.
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