08/Jun/2012, Willemstad - Curacao
Another trip into Willemstad today. This time to take ourselves on a walking tour of the city, to sample some of the fabulous architecture from the hey-day of the Flemish Golden Century in this far flung outpost of their empire in the Caribbean Sea.
The style of buildings found in the Netherlands have been imported with a few significant modifications in consideration of construction materials available and the tropical climate. Narrow coastal margins falling into the deep ultramarine ocean, with no meandering rivers, does not provide clay for making bricks. The few brick buildings were erected at great expense; heavy bricks shipped in from abroad. The local solution was to cut stone from the limestone and then to render the haphazard-irregular finish. This dull grey base was then painted with the bright colours that so typify the buildings in Willemstad. The other major modifications were to recess windows thus providing shade from the unrelenting mid-day sun and to build porches to shade doorways, some of these ape the neo-classical style so common in British Georgian architecture. The buildings of the city range from those in a state of dis-repair and collapse to those that have been lovingly restored to their former glory; the majority are in the latter category.
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... en route refreshment was required with regularity. It was only the one Englishman and his wife out in the mid-day sun along with Austrian friends Birgit and Christian (from Pitufa) and we serendipitously happened upon an originally decorated establishment named "Mundo Bizarro". And bizarre it was with distressed walls and a plethora of furniture and artifacts scattered around. It was pleasant to sit in airy surroundings and take a break.
Photo shows (left to right) Birgit, Andy & Christian....
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...Sue nabbed the comfy chair and sat enthroned before us mere mortals...
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... here is another of the buildings from a bygone era.
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06/Jun/2012, Passage Bonaire to Curacao
We loved the antics of these characters who paid a fleeting visit while surfing in the ocean waves.
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06/Jun/2012, Willemstad - Curacao
A day wandering around Willemstad. This morning we spent our time at a local museum. Many exhibits casting illumination on the sordid slave trade during the past half millenium. The extent of Dutch interests during the 17th and 18th centuries is little known to many in the UK. The Dutch colonies in Surinam (formerly Dutch Guiana), Brazil, the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao in the south and Saba, Statia and St Maarten in the north gave great demand for slaves to be brought from Africa. The artefacts and exhibits show only too clearly the harrowing trail of suffering across the Atlantic and into the Americas.
Quite a trek to reach Willemstad from our anchorage in Spaanse Water, caused mainly by unpunctuality of the bus services rather than any excessive distance. None the less, it is very pleasant to have a day to soak in the history and sights of Curacao's capital city without needing to rush between the offices of officialdom.
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