Willemstad- Curacao A very attractive town run by the Dutch

We arrived in the Port of Willemstad in the early hours of the morning and the announcement said at 08.00 its ok to leave the ship , so we turned over in bed and awaited the breakfast to be delivered and checked the email.

So we slowly got our selves together and and about 10.30 ish we left the ship and walked down the gangway on to Curacao’n soil, actually a solid piece of concrete quay more like it. The walk to the town takes you along the quay where there are significant works taking place until we reached a large Hotel which had been built together with a shopping mall in and around the old Rif Castle and there was a courtyard with bars and shops and also a very nice large Casino if you fancied a wager, which we did not. In the middle of the town there is a very large river which leads to a Port and to cross the river is a floating pontoon type bridge for pedestrians only but just as we got there the alarm sounded and the bridge moved completely out of the way by lining alongside the river bank, oh we thought that will be a while before we can get across but then we noticed that there was a free ferry that went back and forth across the river when the bridge was not available. So we waited in line as we watched this large tanker being pushed by a couple of tugs up the river and then the ferry left for the other side of the town.
This area is very nice and mostly shops and cafes but all the buildings had been painted in complementary colours and the whole affect was really quite attractive. This is clearly an affluent town compared the some of the other West Indies Islands we have seen although we did not ice that the bridge had been restored some years ago courtesy of the European Taxpayer via the EU. As Curacao is owned and governed by the Dutch they seem to be able to get EU Development funds,  not sure how this happens but this is a another scenario. Alongside the river were many bars and restaurant and reminiscent of  the River Plate in Buenos Aires only this one is more colourful. So it was about one o'clock and to get back to the ship could take us another ninety minutes or so therefore we decided to have a light snack of a typical Dutch dish called the Ham Toastie with a plate of chips whilst Jennifer had the Hawaiian Toastie which was the same toast but with a filling of ham, cheese and pineapple which she enjoyed very much. This was washed down with a couple of small Amstel beers for Noel and Jennifer had her Mint Tea. Just as we  were leaving the café the bridge decided to open again and so back again to the ferry  for the return trip.
We are not ones for looking in tourist type shops with bags, and T-shirts etc with the word Curacao on it in bright colours when we don't need any more bags thank you. We got back to the ship around 14.45 and dived in to the shower as it had been quite Hot, we guessed around 31 C ‘is and a little bit humid and then catch up with some water before having a quick zizz before we go off  for dinner in the main restaurant tonight where out table will be ready at 20.00.Might have a glass of wine on the balcony before leaving for the restaurant me thinks.
Briefly watching the Fox news this morning and the fun and games between the two political parties, that if you issue a memo like the ‘Nunes’ memo than we want to issue one two. The  DNC (Democratic Nut Case) party have issued there memo with a content they have put knowing that it will be redacted as perhaps being to sensitive so that they can say the President is not a fair man. This whole this is stupid and what with ex wives of politician’s also playing the feminist game with allegations causing two more Government senior bods making allegations against their ex husband's.  One ex wife said her husband ran over her foot with the car, and stubbed out a cigarette in her hand which if true is not acceptable but the allegations are not confirmed as no visits to Doctors or Hospitals have allegedly been recorded. ‘A woman scorned etc etc….
If the reader feels that i do not write much about the places we visit there is a reason for this as when we get back to UK I will update this Blog with links to the town tourist site of if important enough to Wikipedia for more information as I don't think all my reader are interested in the when the Castle was rebuilt and by whom and on what day of the week at 09.30.
Well the dinner was nice again tonight and following which we went on the top deck to see the lights of the city and then back to our balcony for some peace and quiet as they were laying music, pleasant, but also the sound of the engines running through the stacks and our balcony is a lot quieter.
We did 2.7 miles walking yesterday and 3.2 miles today according to our Garmin reporters and no wonder we feel a little tired tonight and Noels knees are struggling a bit. Tomorrow we arrive in Oranjestad in Aruba which we last visited on our P & O trip in 2015 en-route to San Francisco. We remember it as a great place to visit and we were informed by our dinner steward that there is a parade tomorrow in the  main town which sound like it could be interesting.
Tonight Noel has pre-ordered his dinner with a New York strip steak being chosen lets hope they have not marinated it again in garlic, we shall see,