Curacao

 

Curacao is the epitome of the Old Dutch splendour sketched in spectacular Flemish facades.
Willemstad, the capital, blends than and now with great success and has the style of a European city in a tropical island setting.
Curacao has 38 beaches from well populated strands to secluded coves where vacationers can enjoy the watersports or bask on a beautiful beach.
 
Capital:            Willemstad
 
Currency:         Netherlands Antilles guilder; US$1=Nag1.78; US$ widely accepted
 
Population:      152,700
 
Area:                171 square miles (443 square kilometres).
 
Language:       Dutch and Papiamentu. Spanish and English also widely spoken
 
Economy:         Tourism, salt production.
 
Religion:          Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and many other denominations are  Represented
 
Government: Member of the Netherlands Antilles, an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the  Netherlands.
 
Telephone Codes:       599
 
Airport Departure Tax: US$20.00
 
Entry requirements: Australian and New Zealand passport holders do not require visas 
 
Banking Hours: Monday to Friday, 8am-3.30pm. The airport bank is open Monday to
Saturday 8am-8pm, and on Sunday 9am-4pm.
 
Shopping Hours: Shops open from 8am-noon and 2-6pm or later if a cruise ship is in port.
 
Electricity:        110 volts 
 
Time Zone:      14 hours behind Sydney (EST)
 
Weather:
Located in the tropics, just 12° north of the Equator -- and outside of the hurricane belt -- Curaçao has a warm, sunny climate year round. The average temperature is about 27° C ( mid 80s F). Refreshing trade winds blow constantly from the east, picking up in the spring months. The rainy season, October to February, is marked by short, occasional showers, usually at night, and continued sunny weather by day. Total annual rainfall averages only 570 mm (22 inches). Occasionally a tropical storm brewing elsewhere in the Caribbean can cause uncharacteristically cloudy weather for a day or two
 
Transportation:
There are taxi stands at the airport, in Punda and Otrabanda and outside major hotels. Fares are standard and there are no meters, so you should confirm rates before your ride. Fares are for one to four people with a 25-percent surcharge for a fifth passenger and after 11 p.m.
The two modes of public transportation are yellow or blue buses called konvoi and collective cars or buses. Major terminals are located outside of the post office on the Waaigat inlet in Punda and beside the underpass in Otrabanda. In-town and eastern point fares are NAFl.1 and 1.50 to get to the island's western end. Buki di Bus: Bus Schedules and Routes is published by the Transportation Department and costs just NAFl.1.45
 
History:
When Alonso de Ojeda, a Spanish navigator traveling with Amerigo Vespucci, came across Curacao in 1499, he immediately claimed it for Spain. By the early 1500s, settlements had sprung up across the isle. A conflict in 1634, however, put ownership of the island into the hands of the Dutch West India Company. Soon after, Portuguese and Spanish Jews, seeking refuge from the Inquisition, arrived in Curacao. In the first two decades of the 19th century, the Dutch temporarily lost control of the island to Britain. In 1954, Curacao became a self-governing partner, along with Aruba and Bonaire, in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

On a clear day in Curaçao – and that means most days – you can see Venezeula a few miles across the sea in South America. But don’t spend too much time looking. There’s more than enough to see and do in this large, lively island that has for centuries been a major cultural and trading crossroads.
When you hear salsa and merengue on the buses and glimpse the Latin style and verve of the islanders, you’ll know you’re not very far from South America. Neither, culturally, will you be that far from the Old World.
The Dutch merchants who colonised the island and built the capital, Willemstad, had the brightly-coloured houses and warehouses designed to remind them of their homes in Amsterdam.
Add in the immigrants and traders who settled there from rest of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia – it is estimated the island is home to 50 nationalities – and you have the recipe for a relaxed and cosmopolitan melting pot that offers everything for the perfect tropical vacation.
Sunbathers will find 38 popular beaches, from large strands to secluded sun-traps cut into the rocks on the craggy coast, while the CuraçaoUnderwaterPark is a haven for divers and snorkellers – a 12-mile (19km) reef with coral beds, walls and shallow wrecks. Watersports such as fishing, windsurfing and water-skiing are major island activities, as is golf.
For exciting after-dark entertainment, there are smart casinos, discos and dozens of restaurants offering Caribbean and international cuisines.
Curaçao is an island of salsa, jazz and tumba – a local specialty. Curaçao's annual Salsa Festival and Jazz Festival are among the highlights of events each year. And during February’s Carnival Week the streets and beaches really are alive with the sound of music. In the back-country – kunuku – there is a 10-square-mile nature preserve which has species of flora and fauna found nowhere else in the Caribbean. Eco-tourists will want to visit the 4,500-acre (18 sq km) ChristoffelNational Park to see protected iguanas and tiny Curaçao deer. They can also take in the island’s ostrich farm and sea aquarium – one of the region’s largest – where they can swim with lemon sharks.
We’ve left one of the best features of Curaçao to the end – the famous blue, orange, red, green, and clear liqueurs made here from the bitter laraha oranges grown on trees imported by the Spanish from Valencia. Enjoy!