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Oranjestad As you may know, Arbua was a Dutch colony. Many of the names are Dutch as is a portion of the architecture and, of course, the culture. Oranjestad is the capital and largest city on the island. It's got a little of everything including shopping, gambling and eating. What more could you want? It is a short bus ride from the resort area along Palm Beach. For the record, you're best off buying a round trip ticket. We spent part of two days there walking around and shopping. While we didn't buy much we did drop some money at Kay's Jeweler's. Of the tens of jewelry stores in Oranjestad, this one was the only one that had more than a couple of people in it. It was recommended to us by Melissa's father, and we understand why. They pride themselves on developing relationships with their customers - and they serve beer. Yes, they serve beer. Brilliant, if you ask me. I was crafty though, and refused. Didn't help me much. But seriously, they were very nice, and very helpful. If you're going there and planning to buy any jewelry, we suggest you look there. We also had dinner "in town" one night at El Goucho. Everybody seems to eat there when in Aruba. It was good, but personally I think it was a bit over rated. Or, I suppose, it's possible I just wasn't really in the mood for steak that night! It's an Argentinia beef Steak House. It's VERY popular. Make reservations and try to make them for early in the night. They are notoriously behind on their seatings but with our early reservations we sat down immediately. When we left there was a large crowd waiting for their tables that had spilled out into the street. There are a few minor tourist attractions in town including the Numismatic Museum of Aruba (That's money for those not in the know) and Fort Zoutman which holds the Historical Museum of Aruba. We intended to go to the former (but it closed earlier than we expected) and we stopped by the later and decided that the cost wasn't worth it (and we were already completely worn out). |