Oranjestad Aruba is a common stop on many Carribean cruise packages and it was the second destination of our recent vacation, so thats what I will be showcasing in this post.
Port days on any cruise are always a little exciting, but all the more so if you haven't been to the location before.
Not only do you get to set foot on land again, a major plus, but you also get to explore a new country and city for the first time. I had never been to Aruba so I had pretty high hopes for it overall.
We arrived early in the morning of an overcast and gloomy sort of day and set out to see what the city had to offer.
The port was located close to the old town and near a few resort hotels that were located along the water.
We walked through one of the resorts without really even realizing it.
It had a monument of Anne Frank out front, which actually felt a little odd and somewhat out of place to me. I realize that Aruba is a Dutch colony but Anne Franks story took place in the Netherlands so I don't fully get why the monument is there. Maybe there is a good reason though?
We got caught in the rain twice during our visit, but we were able to snag a table at a local cafe to wait out the rain with a nice coffee. It was a torrential downpour.
We were able to take advantage of the cafes free wifi though, to quickly check in with folks back home and with our social media pages, Hive and all of the other stuff that you miss when you don't have access to the internet.
The rain only lasted 10 minutes or so and we carried on with our exploration, now in the warm blanket of humidity.
We noticed a lot of blue horse sculptures scattered around the city with information plaques that provided some interesting tidbits of historic facts about the country and its relationship to livestock and horses.
One plaque mentioned Arubas beginnings and how it experienced 20 years of upheaval and turbulence when the English and French fought for its control. The ordeal completely depleated the country of all of its livestock.
Later, in 1817 Aruba became a Dutch colony and gained back some of its stability, but changes to the country ended up being unfavorable to the livestock and the horse trade as well.
Changes to the industry's taxation laws, as well as a newly discovered gold rush in the country, lead to the steady and rapid decline of livestock ownership. We found the info that we came across to be pretty interesting and enjoyed reading the various boards on our self guided tour.
We walked through the old town of the city and came across a few historic buildings.
The city was brightly colored in pinks, yellows and blues, just like many of the cities in the Carribean. Despite the color though, I actually found the city to feel a little run down and depressed in a way.
It could have been the weather that day though, and the dreary skies that we were experiencing. Weather can do that to me when I visit a place.
Nonetheless, I did still find a few cool buildings that I liked.
Sometimes I like them a bit grungy anyway.
This bright yellow building (below) is one of the oldest houses in the city. It was built in the mid 1800s and has remained in the possession of the same family for over a 100 years. We got that from another information board.
The building is now a restaurant.
We also headed over to the beach for a bit, just to check it out. It was within walking distance from the ship.
I always heard that Aruba had some great beaches. This one had white sand and blue water but almost no people.
We ended up seeing this guy doing some bait fishing with his net in the shallow water though.
It was an entertaining experience to come across.
He was accompanied by a swarm of hungry birds just waiting to snag some of his catch and claim it for their own.
We checked out a local market as well but it was pretty lame overall. All that was being sold was super cheap touristy crap and nothing at all looked like it was produced locally. It was more like a mass produced shipment that came from China or something. I didn't even bother to take photos in there. Picture a lot of silk screen t-shirts and poorly made stuffed animals that look like they were manufactured to be a prize in a bowling alley "claw" arcade game.
We did a big loop of the area and headed back through a different portion of the old town before making our way back to the cruise ship.
We had fun exploring the city but all in all I wouldn't say that it was my favorite destination in the Carribean.
If I were to go back again I would definitely get out of the city and go check out a different part of the country. I'd Maybe check out a better beach or look for a hike or something different to do. Have you ever been to Oranjestad or Aruba in general? What did you think? Let me know in the comments.
