In my research on Curacao the Free Walking Tours Curacao tour had excellent reviews and the all had the same tour guide, Rayay.

Carnival offered a walking tour for $35 but I would much rather do something like this where all of the money goes to the tour guide in the form of a tip instead of a cruise line taking their piece.  

A couple days before the tour I was sent this link with pictures of the meeting point.

I used this picture from Google Earth.

 

It looks like you can do your own walking tour. That would not be as extensive as the one we are about to do.

It’s a short, five minute walk from the ship to the Rif Fort.

The Rif Fort was built in 1828 to protect the island from pirates or an enemy invasion. 

The Rif Fort is made out of five foot thick coral walls.

When you come out the other side you can see the statue meeting point. That’s Rayay in the yellow shirt.

Rayay gave us a few minutes to make sure everyone was here. Only about half of the people who signed up actually showed up.

He said look at the flag first then we’ll sit in that shaded area on the other side to talk about it.

This is the shaded area we sat in for about a 20 minute presentation on Curacao.

Blue and yellow represent the sky and the sun. The big and small stars represent big and little Curacao. The crown was made by a famous welder.  

Curacao has 107 nationalities. A governor appointed by the Dutch crown is head of state. Tourism is their largest industry.

This statue is of Admiral Brion. This Plaza, the hotel, parking lot, and stores in this area are all named after him. He died poor in the yellow house to right of white building across the bridge.

This building was painted by the best muralist on the island. 

The green building is the Basilica of St. Anne which is nearly 300 years old.

This is the Kura Hulanda Museum. We don’t have time for it on this tour but entry costs $12 if you want to come back and do it another time. 

There are many coral and limestone buildings in this area that are up to 300 years old. The government has restrictions on the buildings in this area. They have to be finished this way.

Rustiq is a restaurant that Rayay recommends. It is just outside of the museum.

This building has a mural of the people who lived in these houses before they were sold and transformed into into museums and businesses.

We went in one of the shops. The prices seemed high. One guy was asking about a magnet and was quoted $10. Then he asked about a license plate and was told $30. He said he’d be willing to pay $15. I guess they came to an agreement because at the next venue, he had his license plate.

Next we went to Lion Fish Caribbean. They hunt, buy, cook, serve, and make jewelry out of lion fish. 

Lionfish aren’t from this area. They were brought in from Africa for aquariums.

When the lionfish ate all of the expensive fish in those tanks, people started throwing them in the ocean. They reproduced and now it’s a problem because they eat the fish that maintain the coral reefs. You can kill and eat all the lionfish you want because they’re a nuisance in the Caribbean.

This is a look at a dead lionfish.

She was stung by a lionfish two days ago. It was dead but still venomous at that point. An allergic reaction is possible.

This shows the six week progression of another lionfish hunter who was stung by one that was still alive..

This is the leader board for last month. Charlotte “Char” is giving the demo and has only been hunting for four months.

They catch them with this sphere and put them in that trap. They sell the traps here but the spheres are only legal for catching lionfish.

They are open for lionfish meals 12-8:30pm on Thursday and 12:30-3:30pm all other days. 

The jewelry is available at https://www.lionfishcaribbean.com

If you are here at night. This little square in Hulunda Village is the place to be. You have the restaurants. They bring in food trucks. And a band plays up on this restroom roof.

In this area they are promoting local farmers.

These were painted by an artist that is famous for painting women’s faces.

Nina is the other house artist in this area.

They have a free food party here every year called Kaya Kaya.

These houses were painted by a brother and sister.

This is a place where you can try multiple types of food.

These are the owners of the restaurant and the organizers of Kaya Kaya.

Each window in here has different food. We sat at the tables to talk about food for about 15 minutes.

The island was under water at one point. You can see the corals here.

This Swinging Old Lady Brewery refers to the Queen Emma Bridge we are about to cross.

The is the Queen Emma Bridge. The “swinging old lady” nickname is because it swings open to allow ships in and out.

We are back by the flag.

We are now crossing the Queen Emma Bridge.

That is the Queen Juliana Bridge.

The governor is head of state here. This yellow building is her palace. She was appointed by the Dutch crown. The Prime Minister works for her.

The building colors represent status. Yellow is the elites.

If we look back we can see the ship.

And we are across the bridge.

This yellow building is one of the oldest built in 1708. 

This has local artwork and crafts you can purchase. 

At this point I was told you can’t take pictures in here. 

This guy wrote the constitution.

These are Chichi dolls. That means big sister.

The lady in the wheelchair is a famous artist who painted this entire alley.

I told Rayay it means something different to us. On the next tour I find out sushi means garbage. I guess you don’t want to call your dushi sushi.

This place has stuff from a few artists. The guy that owns and works here makes these items out of calabash which is the same thing maracas are made from. On my next tour we’ll see household items made from it.

Louis Armstrong

I also knew immediately who painted these. Remember the houses with the women’s faces on them? Same guy.

These purses were popular with the women in the group. He sold a couple. The small ones are $10. The big ones are 30 or 40 depending on the material. They are made by Curacao’s most famous designer.

The wings on art here represent the shape of Curacao.

This is Rayay’s aunt who fought for women’s rights.

Here we could sample whatever we wanted. Rayay says the tall green bottle is great. I tried their premium rum.

There are three markets around here. The floating market selling items off of boats from Venezuela. The farmers market is across the street. The old market is down the street.

Anabay down the street also does rum tastings.

Built in 1732, Mikve Israel-Emanuel is the oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere.

Our last stop is the rooftop bar at the Elements hotel. I love a good view point. 

From here you can see the ship and all of the government buildings.

This is where we ended the tour. The tour actually started at 9:38am. We were done at 12:15pm.

I highly recommend this tour. It doesn’t cost anything so it’s easy to give Rayay a nice tip at the end. You can sign up at Free Walking Tours Curacao.