Today we took a break from the pool and sun and headed into Willemstad after breakfast and obtaining our 2 negative COVID test results. One more to go! Our hotel bellman got us a cab and we were off for the day.
"Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to 16 museums, is the capital of Curacao and where most of the action is. Separated into two portions – the Punda and the Otrobanda “other side” – by St. Anna Bay.
The Punda is the start of town and where you will see most of the tourists shopping and eating along the water’s edge. Otrobanda on the other hand is where most of the residents live. It’s quite the contrast and if you want to see what it’s like being a local take a stroll through the streets of Otrobanda and feel like you belong.
You can walk back and forth between Punda and Otrobanda via the Queen Emma Bridge."
A story about the Queen Emma Bridge I found to share with you!
"The Queen Emma Bridge, called the “swinging old lady” by locals, is a wooden pontoon bridge originally built in 1888 and restored in 2005/2006. Charla told me with a giggle that it is free to cross now but originally there was a fee of 1/2 a cent to walk across the bridge if you were wearing shoes, but it was free if you had no shoes on (people caught on very quickly).
As I was walking across the wooden bridge (with my shoes on) I could feel a slight bobbing motion and the slight sway of the bridge as it floats over the water. If you are crossing when it is windy, or the water is rough, it’s as if you are drunk, and I can well imagine this because even in calm waters I found it difficult to walk in a straight line."
We agree that walking across it does make you bob and sway.
The guys hanging out on the Queen Emma Bridge
The 167 meter (548 feet) long bridge opens and moves to the side about 30 times per day to allow for ships to enter the harbour. When the bridge is open, free ferries called “ponchi” are set into operation to accommodate people who wish to cross from one side to the other.
When we were ready to come back we took the ferry because the bridge had been open to allow big boats to come through. Michael thought he had a video of the bridge opening but it didn't work for me to show you how it operates in a swinging motion not upwards. But the picture below shows it moved away from the shore.
The buildings are so pretty as you can see from the picture above.
So, the story goes about the colors of the buildings......
"The walls of the buildings were initially made from sea stone and mortar. Over time salt started to leech out of the stone walls giving the exterior walls a white chalk appearance (also known as efflorescence). The Governor of Curacao at the time felt that the bright sun reflecting off the white buildings hurt his eyes and gave him headaches, so he declared that all buildings be painted in a colour other than white. It was later discovered (after he left office) that he was part-owner of the local paint factory!"
Today, for uniformity and easy identification, all official government buildings in Curacao use the same shade of yellow for their exterior walls. The building below was a church we think but it is now a government building.
We shopped in several small shops that were so happy to have tourist back they told us. At the end of the day we went back to a couple of the 1st stores for things we thought about that we hadn't picked up and because they were so happy to have us shop there with them.
We did sample some of the local food with a stop at a cafe with side walk seating. We each had an Arepas - fried cornmeal kind of like a fried pancake and you could pick your filling...we had a grilled chicken with cheese one, a chicken salad one and a seafood salad one. They were delicious pictures below.
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