BY ALYSSA MAHADEO
When Curaçao was first discovered in 1449 by European explorers, Alonso de Ojeda a lieutenant to Christopher Columbus was so impressed by the physical stature of the local islanders that he dubbed it ‘isla de los gigantes’ (island of the giants.) Less than twenty years later, the name Curaçao appeared on a Portuguese map. The most common explanation is that the Spanish had then named it ‘Corazon’ (heart), and the Portuguese then translated this into their own language ‘Curacau’ also pronounced Curaçao. Today the island is endearingly referred to as ‘Dushi Kòrsou’ (Sweet Curaçao) by the locals.
When the Antilles Netherlands gained equal status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands they were decolonized in 1954. Then in 2010 after the Netherland Antilles was dissolved, Curaçao gained its independence within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
During our stay on the warm and sunny island of Curaçao, there was much to explore on the island and we were privileged to take in some of the sights the island had to offer on a Curaçao island tour!
FBTT Travel is a full-service company specializing in touristic and transportation services. They are well versed in catering to tourism travel services, VIP Services, Tours & Activities, Cruise Related Services, Transportation of Guests and Destination Management.
On our third day on the island Fun Bini Taber Tours hosted us on their Curaçao island tour, transporting us on a luxury coach bus to various sightseeing locations across the island.
FBTT took us on a scenic tour of the islands traveling from the East end to West end of Curaçao and Myrea our tour guide, was very knowledgeable about the history of the island, offering important and interesting information about the areas where we travelled, explaining to all of the guests in both English and their native language Dutch. As we travelled to other hotels, to pick up additional passengers we travelled through places with breathtaking sights, including Scharloo with it’s many beautiful buildings featured on the Unesco World Heritage List and saw high end real estate where many people and even some celebrities own vacation homes on the island. We were able to overlook Spanish Water and our first stop was a visit the Curaçao liquor distillery, where they brew the famous Curaçao Blue Liquor.
At the Curaçao Blue Liquor Factory there was a short tour of the distillery with background and history on the Senior Company of Curaçao, the Jewish Senior family that discovered the original recipe for the drink and started production in 1896. We were offered samples of the flavoured liquor that also comes in orange, coffee, chocolate, and tamarind flavours as well.
Continuing our tour, we headed west across the island where we given details about the 160,000 inhabitants on the island. 80% of the population is Roman Catholic and very often you will find that all of the churches, schools and cemeteries are grouped in the same place. We were told about the history of slavery, and shown some of the first slave, and plantation houses as well as, statues of a white fist holding the broken chains of slavery after the rebellion in 1795.
Our tour took us to the salt plains of Jan Kok to view the magnificent view over the surrounding hills, and we visited the Boka Tabla in the Shete Boka National Park, an open area with a rugged coastline and a tempestuous sea. We stopped for lunch at a quaint little restaurant and resort Rancho El Sobrino before ending our tour with a dip in Knip Beach one of the most beautiful beaches of Curaçao.
Geertje Hamstra FIT Manager for FBTT Travel shared with us that they operate their services with a very strong and professional multilingual team. Whether it’s one of their hostesses that solves a problem for a stay-over guest, one of their drivers who drives you to your accommodation or one of their guides that show the highlights of our island, they provide you service with a smile and with lots of care.
“We have many different tours to choose from, including beach tours for travelers who only want to experience the many beaches on the island, downtown walking tours, tours to the east side of the island where you can see the ostrich farm, and even the Hato caves,” Hamstra explains. “There are options for full-day and half day tours, and private tours depending on our clients we can tailor every tour to their needs, so there is a little something for everyone to enjoy while visiting Curaçao.”
If you are interested in booking a tour with FBTT on your visit to the gorgeous island of Curaçao please visit http://www.fb-tt.com/en/ for information on all of the various tours they have to offer or give them a call at +5999 8699559. They believe in strong and durable partnerships and operate all of their tours with an eye for detail, friendly hospitality and personal care. FBTT Travel has developed a wide variety of tourism services, that are continuously evaluated in order to provide excellence to clients and performance for their partners. They always try to go above and beyond in everything we do, being creative and innovative so that we are able to further develop their services and the destination, so that can better serve guests travelling to Curaçao.
