2 For the Price of One

Friday, Jan. 13, 2017
Our last two days are pretty simple...we went to a beach. This day we went to Playa Porto Marie. This is another beautiful beach right up there with Cas Abao. We finished the day with an early dinner on the beach and stopped in Williwood for some wine.....it's always about the wine, right?






























Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017
For our last full day we started out with a trip to Gallery Alma Blou. It's located right in the Piscadera area in Landhuis Habaai. While Mary shopped I watched all the birds and got to see a couple of small parrots and lots of troupials.
From the gallery we went to Blue Bay Beach again. When we got there, there was a whole row of motorcycles in the parking lot. We found out that they are transported on a cruise ship and then the riders get to tour the island with a police escort. Pretty cool. We were thinking of you, Bruno.
After the beach we headed back to have one more look at the flamingos then headed into the city for one last stroll of the city and a visit to the casino for Mary (She didn't win big so I guess we're coming home.)











































































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Location:Corriweg,,Netherlands Antilles

Knights of Knip - Pt. 2

Jan. 12, 2017
We got back to Willemstad around 4:00 and parked in our trusted free parking at the Renaissance Hotel and headed for Punda and the coming festivities! Right in the middle of Queen Emma Bridge when the rain came POURING down. Luckily Mary had our beach towels which we threw over ourselves and then as fast as possible shuffled ( we had flip flops on)off the bridge to shelter and waited out the rain.



We figured the worst was over and did some strolling looking for signs of celebrations that were not there. We stopped into Neva Sanchez' in town gallery and ha a lengthy talk about Trump with her sister. I don't think most of Curaçao are thrilled with the prospect of President Trump. She was quite upset that two of her children that live in the States actually voted for Trump.
No sooner had we left the shop when the deluge returned. Out came the towels and begin the mad shuffling to the nearest awning.






We were waved inside by the owner of a little restaurant and had a coffee. We talked quite awhile to some Colombians who were also waiting out the rain.

When it finally stopped and we were reconciled to the fact that there would be no celebrations because of the rains, we made our way back to Scampi's for Mary's birthday....I'm sure one of many before her actual birthday in February. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and had a good talk about Curaçao with the owner's son, Zuni, and our server, Clay. The food, like the time before was very good.
On our way back to the car we saw a passing anti-government demonstration and then walked across the bridge to the light of the full moon....before it went back behind the clouds.
























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Location:Corriweg,,Netherlands Antilles

Knights of Knip - Pt. 1

Jan. 12, 2017
Another rainy day was forecast so we decided to do a road trip up to Westpunt on the northwest corner of the island with stops along the way.
Our first stop was at Lagun, a little community with a small public beach. Mary was able to do some "shelling". If she doesn't do some shell culling she'll have to pay for an extra bag when we fly home.


















From there we drove on to Knip with its small public beach. This was Avery beautiful little beach with lots of sand and some strong currents.












Just past the beach we stopped in at Landhuis Knip to see it's museum. The slave uprising start here, led by Tula. The uprising was short lived and did not end well for Tula and the other leaders....decapitations and such.












On we travelled to Playa Forti, just outside of Westpunt. This was a rocky little beach but there was a restaurant there high on a cliff which overlooked the water. We stopped for lunch and Mary was able to find another Blur Curaçao drink...a Blue Sprizz.












The rain started picking up so we continued on the circle route back to Willemstad with a brief stop at the turtle exhibition in Christoffel Park. We were headed to Punda for "Thursday Night Vibes" with a parade, music, Happy Hour and fireworks all on tap. This is a taste of what's to come at their carnival in February.

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Location:Corriweg,,Netherlands Antilles

Little Pink Houses

We started out for the far end of the island today to do some exploring but just out of Willemstad the skies opened, so much so that we had to pull over and let it run itself out. This was about the third time in the morning it had rained like this, the first two happening when we were still in our apartment.

When the rain lessened we changed plans and headed back into the city. We decided to do a walking tour (self-directed) of the heritage buildings in the Pietermai and Scharloo districts. There are over 700 heritage buildings in the city. It's also interesting comparing the restored buildings with those that are not. The buildings can range from residences, businesses, government buildings and hotels. Half way through our walking tour we stopped at a funky little Italian place for spaghetti with pesto and at least twice while walking we had to run to an awning to avoid being soaked. Luckily the downpours usually last less than ten minutes. To finish off our day Mary did some shopping and we stopped for another Dutch fondue.


























































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Location:Corriweg,,Netherlands Antilles