Discount Car Rentals in Curacao

Curacao Attractions and Things to See

Curacao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that sits off the coast of Venezuela, and includes the small uninhabited island of Klein Curacao, and is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with their capital city of Willemstad. It is the biggest of the three ABC Islands of the Lesser Antilles, with a total land mass of 171 square miles. In 2010, when the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved, it would become the Island territory of Curacao. Its earliest inhabitants were the Arawak Amerindians, and the first Europeans to arrive here were Spanish explorers under Alonso de Ojeda in 1499. They would export the majority of the population to other islands where laborers were needed, and the Dutch would take it over in 1634. It has a very interesting history that needs to be enjoyed at your leisure and would be great reading if you had a few moments to relax and read while sitting next to the ocean at a lovely beach.

It has one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean, and the main industries include oil refining, tourism and financial services, but starting in January, 2014, the Lynx rocketplane is expected to start flying suborbital space tourism flights, and other scientific research missions on a new spaceport located on the island. Because of its unique heritage, it is a polygot society, with the main languages of Spanish, Dutch, Papiamentu and English spoken. Although the island has a small population, the diversity of languages and their cultural influences have created an outstanding literary tradition, even though the Arawak oral traditions of the indigenous people have been lost, the West African slaves that were brought here include the tales of Anasi and other stories and legends.

The local food is called krioyo and has a mix of flavors and techniques that is comparable to Latin American and Caribbean cuisine. The common dishes here include; stoba, a stew created with various ingredients like beef, goat or papaya, guiambo that is soup made from okra and seafood, much fish and seafood, kadushi or cactus soup, funchi that is a cornmeal paste like ugali, polenta or fufu, sop mondongo or intestine soup. Fried plantain is another local favorite like so many other island, Central American and South American cities and nations. Local bread rolls are created with a Portuguese recipe, and around the island, snek is a local dish served with alcohol drinks like the English public houses. Breakfast is pastechi, a fried pastry filled with cheese, ground meat, ham or tuna. The island has numerous Chinese restaurants that also serve Indonesian dishes like lumpia, nasi goreng and satay, and the Dutch specialties like oliebollen and croquettes.

Baseball is a big sport here, with their little league teams coming to the LL World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, Curacan natives played for the Netherlands team. With the excellent trade winds and warm waters, the island has windsurfing and diving.