The First Full Day

Our first full day on the island! Unfortunately I woke up to discover the one thing lacking in Curacao.  Good coffee.  Although not as snobby as some people, I do need a good cup of coffee in the morning.  Rob's room didn't have a coffee maker, so he bought a one cup coffee maker and was doing the best he could.  He is accustomed to "combat coffee" after his deployments.  But for me, it would take some getting used to.  

So, inadequately caffeinated, we made our plan for the day.  We had both done some research on the island and Rob had scouted a few cool places before we got there, but mostly we planned to wing it.  Since this was our first day, we were going to do a little exploring on foot and give the kids more swimming time.

But first... breakfast! The hotel was attached to a Denny's, so we decided to give that a try.  I was excited by the prospect of a decent cup of coffee.  Denny's, unfortunately, was a disappointment on that front.  

Now full of food and coffee flavored water, we set out to see what we could see.  Our first stop was the cruise port entrance.  I was interested to see it because we like to cruise and I've always been interested in cruising down here to the Southern Caribbean.  This port is so much better than Nassau or Grand Cayman!  First, it's a dock so way better than Grand Cayman, where you have to take a little boat to shore.  Second, they have room for only 2 ships, one at the Mega Pier and one slightly inland.  The second ship cannot be very large because it has to fit through a canal.  Even on days when there were two ships in port, you never had more than 3,000 passengers.  

Our destination was the Mega Pier entrance, which has the Renaissance Hotel, a shopping arcade, restaurants and a casino.  This area was really cool and we were able to poke our head into the Renaissance pool area which blew me away.  I'm going to save my pictures of it for later though because we will be spending the second half of our trip staying at the Renaissance!

From the Mega Pier, you can enter Rif Fort.  This fort was so cool.  They've taken the historic fort and turned it into shops and restaurants.  So you get the historical along with the touristy.  I love the use of something that was decaying as something practical and money making.  If you need to give the tourists what they want, why not do it in a super cool way?

From the Fort it was a short walk to the Queen Emma Bridge.  The bridge crosses the waterway between Willemstad and Punda, the two main areas of downtown Curacao.  The bridge is actually a series of pontoons with a wheel house.  Every so often, when a boat needs to go through, they open the bridge.  This waterway is the way oil tankers get to the refineries located inland, which is the mainstay of the Curacao economy.  You also see pilot ships, cargo ships and tugs going through.  Oh yeah, and the smaller of the cruise ports is INSIDE this bridge, so they have to open it to let cruise ships in.  

So we crossed the bridge and found the Iguana Cafe located right by the bank of the canal.  Behind the cafe and across the water are rows of brightly colored buildings built in the Dutch style.  We loved the atmosphere at the cafe and decided to have lunch there.  Over the course of our time on the island, this was our favorite spot.  Service was on island time, for sure, but the food was outstanding and the view was awesome.  

The arches behind me are the bridge.

She loved that they gave her a real glass with a straw.

The ice cream at the Iguana Cafe was the best we found.

After lunch we strolled back to the hotel and took a nap.  All that sun and walking was too much for us!  Once we woke up refreshed, it was time to swim in the pool and eat dinner at the Tiki Bar.  This trip was off to a great start!