Editor’s note: back in 2021, as the world was just beginning to open up from COVID, Curacao was my first destination. I spent three weeks on the island, and fell absolutely in love with the place and its people. It is really great to see that Sam felt similarly, even in a much shorter span of time. You can click here to go to my guide to the island that links to everything I wrote. And please click here to visit Sam Spector’s index page to read about his adventures

My family knows that I always want to visit places where I can see and learn about history, particularly Jewish history. That often involves a lot of fast-paced running around and not much downtime. Understandably, with three small kids, my wife, as much as she appreciates Jewish history, sometimes would prefer a lowkey beach vacation. However, there is a place that combines both aspects, and that is the island of Curacao. Curacao is the largest and most populous (180,000 people roughly) of the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao), which are Dutch territories that are only 50 miles north of Venezuela and popular cruise ship destinations. Curacao differs in terms of its demographics from better known Aruba as Aruba is roughly 80% Dutch white population, while Curacao is about 80% Afro-Caribbean. Curacao first got on my radar when I watched Major League Baseball star Andruw Jones play when I was a kid, as it produces many professional baseball players; yet it was the island’s Jewish history that sold me on visiting.

Curacao’s capital and largest city is Willemstad, and this is the city where you should spend at least a day exploring. Willemstad is split by the St. Anna Bay into its two historic neighborhoods: Otrobanda and Punda. Looming over the bay is the tallest bridge in the Caribbean, the blue and yellow arched Queen Juliana Bridge, which stands 184 feet above the water. Start your day in Otrobanda. Willemstad might be the best city in the world when it comes to street art, and Otrobanda, founded in 1707, has neat alleyways between old Dutch buildings that have beautiful and colorful murals to admire. Down on the shoreline is Fort Rif, built in the early 1800s to keep pirates from invading the town. While the exterior of the stone fort and its cannons are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site that is historic Willemstad and reflect the original design, the interior has been completely revitalized as a modern mall with shops and restaurants.

Next to Fort Rif is the Queen Emma Bridge, a floating bridge first built in the late 1800s, connecting Otrobanda and Punda. From the Otrobanda side and on the bridge, you can get beautiful panorama views of Punda. The main street of Punda on the water has colorful buildings painted to look like Copenhagen’s famous harbor. This strip of buildings, dating back to the 1700s, has become the symbol of Curacao, depicted even on their license plates, and one of the most famous places in the Caribbean. Initially, these buildings were bright white, but they were painted in the early 1800s as the buildings’ glare from the reflection due to Curacao’s intense sun was hurting people’s eyes, which led to the change. The Queen Emma Bridge feels rickety while on it as the waves slam into it. The bridge is motorized with what look like wooden boats connected to the bottom to allow it to open and close when boats need to get into the harbor. If walking is challenging or the bridge is open and you are in a hurry, there are free water taxis that will take you from Otrobanda to Punda.

In Punda, the best thing you can do is allow yourself to get lost in the different streets with their brightly colored buildings and beautiful street art. On the north side of the neighborhood is the Floating Market. The name is a misnomer as it is a bunch of kiosks set up selling souvenirs, but it is called such as this used to be a market where Venezuelan merchants would sell their goods on their ships. In the middle of Punda is the reason that Curacao had been on my bucket list and why we went here over other Caribbean Islands: the Jewish Museum of Curacao. While Willemstad was founded by the Dutch in 1634, the first Jews, who were largely descendants of Jews expelled by the Portuguese and Spanish during the Inquisition and who had gone to the Netherlands, arrived in the 1650s. They built their first synagogue in 1675 and then constructed the Mikve Israel-Emmanuel Synagogue in 1732, which is still in use today. This synagogue is the oldest active synagogue building in the entire Western Hemisphere. It is built to resemble a smaller version of Amsterdam’s grand Portuguese Synagogue, but is famous because it has a floor covered in white sand. While the sand gives a Caribbean feel to the synagogue, it has metaphorical and practical purposes to it. Biblically the sand is a reminder of how Abraham was told that his descendants would be as numerous as the grains of sand in the world and the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt when they wandered the desert. On a practical level, the descendants of Jews from the Inquisition had become accustomed to laying sand down on the ground when they engaged in worship, to muffle the sounds of their feet moving so that they would not be heard or discovered. Inside the museum are artifacts and stories telling the history of this community, which today still numbers a couple hundred people, less than what once was. The museum also contains an exhibition on Anne Frank, as after all Curacao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and this area is an extension of Amsterdam’s Anne Frank House. There is also an exhibition on George Maduro, a Curacao Jew who became a hero during World War II, leading the Dutch in the Battle of the Netherlands. Maduro was later captured and died in Dachau Concentration Camp, but he became a national hero and was posthumously awarded the highest military honor in the Netherlands, the only person from the Dutch Caribbean islands to receive such.

In addition to Otrobanda, Punda is bordered by two other neighborhoods worth exploring. To the north, the Queen Wilhelmina Bridge, which was once a drawbridge and resembles those over Amsterdam’s canals, connects Punda with Scharloo, which was historically the Jewish merchants’ quarter. Just east of Punda is Pietermaai. This neighborhood has many boutique hotels and several fantastic restaurants. It has recently been revitalized, and the buildings are brightly colored. In the evening, the restaurants and bars are packed, it is a great area to walk around, barhop, and dine.

Curacao’s Jewish history also contributed to one of the islands best known products, Curacao liqueur. Dutch Jews, who were again descendants of those expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, created a triple sec liqueur using the dried peels of the bitterly sour oranges that grow throughout the Iberian Peninsula. While they also created and still sell other flavored liqueurs such as coffee, tamarind, rum raisin, and chocolate, the original triple sec liqueur is most famous. In the 1950s, Curacao liqueur became world renowned when blue dye was added to the liqueur. Today, they have blue, green, orange, red, and clear Curacao, which all taste the same, but the colored ones make cocktails that look spectacular. If you visit the Landhuis Chobolobo, you can learn about the distilling process and the liqueur’s history, watch it be bottled, and try samples of the liqueurs and cocktails after your tour.

Outside Willemstad, there are many beautiful areas of Curacao to explore. Near the airport is Sint Michiel, a saltwater wetland with mountains behind it. Here and at a couple of other places on the island, you are likely to see flocks of flamingos. This was the first time that I have seen flamingos in the wild which was a real treat, but they tend to hang out away from the shore, so while you can admire them from afar, getting a good picture is tough. Drive through the northern part of the island through the mountains and an endless spectacle of kadushi cacti, the local species of cactus that typically grows 30 feet in height, offering a display that rivals Arizona’s cactus scene, all with the addition of the Caribbean as a backdrop. A beach that you should visit is Playa Piskado. In the mornings and at sunset, fishermen bring their catches to the pier and toss overboard the fish scraps that they do not need. These scraps provide a welcome meal for the sea turtles, and if you snorkel along the dock in the morning or later afternoon, you are likely to see the beautiful turtles. Snorkel equipment is available for purchase or rent at the beach as well.

The most famous beach on the island is Mambo Beach, which is frequented by tourists, locals, and those doing excursions from cruise ships. The beach offers unspoiled white sand, palm trees, beach bars, and there is a rock barrier between the choppy ocean waters and a quiet, Caribbean-blue lagoon that makes for peaceful swimming and snorkeling. Along Mambo Beach are several overpriced restaurants where you can get decent food at high prices with a beautiful view. Our family stayed at the Lions Dive Beach Resort on Mambo Beach, which I highly recommend for its great rooms, location, and kind staff. On the far east end of the beach is one of the better family-friendly attractions on the island, the Royal Sea Aquarium. This aquarium is an animal encounter aquarium, which allows visitors to pay for the opportunity to take part in the feeding of sharks, flamingos, sea turtles, and to swim with their many dolphins. The dedicated staff enjoy educating visitors about the various aquatic life that reside at the aquarium.

I spent four days in Curacao, which felt like the perfect length of time. If you are debating doing a trip that is rich in history and culture, but also has beautiful beaches and worldclass snorkeling, then this island in the south of the Caribbean is somewhere you will want to check out.

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