{"id":272959,"date":"2022-08-19T11:05:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T09:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/highlights\/willemstad"},"modified":"2022-08-19T13:34:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T11:34:57","slug":"willemstad","status":"publish","type":"highlights","link":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/destinations\/caribbean\/curacao\/willemstad","title":{"rendered":"Willemstad"},"content":{"rendered":"

The historical heart<\/h3>\n

Wrapped in pastel shades, Willemstad<\/strong> is the lively capital and heart of Cura\u00e7ao<\/a>. It is known for the historic architecture of Scharloo<\/strong>, the nightlife in Pietermaai<\/strong> and the wooden floating bridge across St. Anna Baai that connects the colorful trading quay of Punda<\/strong> with the colonial treasures in Otrabanda<\/strong>. And although the neighborhoods are all open-air museums with impressive street art, it is Otranbanda where you will feast your eyes.<\/p>\n

Otrabanda<\/h4>\n

When Punda – the oldest part of the capital – became overcrowded long ago, dockworkers migrated across the bay. The ‘Otra banda’ soon grew into a chaotic working-class neighborhood where people from different backgrounds felt at home, a cultural melting pot with a colonial past. When you cross the Queen Emma Bridge<\/strong> or “The Swinging Old Lady” from Punda to Otrabanda, you find yourself in a charming old neighborhood full of winding alleys, ancient monuments and hidden squares.<\/p>\n

You can wander around, from the centrally located Bri\u00f3n Square<\/strong> where regular festivities take place to the historic Rif Fort<\/strong> ress where dancing takes place every Friday night, and from the main shopping street the Breedestraat<\/strong> to the to the slave trade dedicated Kura Hulanda<\/strong> Museum.<\/p>\n

Plan your visit around the semi-annual Kaya Kaya<\/strong> festival, the day that celebrates the beautification of Ser’i Otrobanda. In the months leading up to it, both professional artists and unskilled neighborhood residents work together to adorn a different street each time with murals and street art. The murals range from geometric shapes to realistic portraits and political commentaries. Some of the showpieces can be found on Willemstraat, such as the striking blue bird and one with the text: “Nos kaya, nan kaya, mi kaya, bo kaya. E kaya tei pa kedawat,”<\/em> which means “Our street, their street, my street, your street. The street is there to stay.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorful street art, historic architecture and vibrant nightlife<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":274032,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"country":[673],"highlight_category":[600],"continent_category":[423],"class_list":["post-272959","highlights","type-highlights","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","country-curacao-en","highlight_category-hoogtepunt-en","continent_category-caribbean"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights\/272959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/highlights"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272959"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights\/272959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272960,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights\/272959\/revisions\/272960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=272959"},{"taxonomy":"highlight_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlight_category?post=272959"},{"taxonomy":"continent_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/continent_category?post=272959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}