# [CW] Curaçao



## Palance (Mar 23, 2005)

The Netherlands Antilles consist out of 5 islands in the Caribbean which belong to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This country is more or less independent: They do not belong to the Netherlands, but the Dutch Queen is officially in charge, and defence and foreign affairs is being led from the Netherlands. The Kingdom had one more country and that is Aruba.

I have been to the island Curaçao. The other islands are Bonaire, Saba, St.Esutatius and Sint Maartan, which is devided in a Dutch and French part.

Map: 











On Curaçao I have (of course...) been to the beach, but I have also rented a car for trips on the island. 
For us, Dutch, the interesting about drivng there is that traffic signs and traffic lights are Dutch. Also the lines and arrows on the road are Dutch. And some streets look like ordinary Dutch streets. The official language there are Dutch and Papiamento, but Spanish and English are widely spoken 

Pictures:

Touristic sign









Roadsign which (indirectly) points to the Ring of Willemstad (capital of Curaçao). Curaçao has no roadnumbers (and no highways), but only one ringroad.









The Queen Wilhelminabridge which, including the pavement and traffic light, look tipically Dutch.









The Breedestraat in Willemstad (mainstreet)









The Queen Julianabridge is part of the ring and 55 metres high (for cargoships). It connects the parts Punda (old city centre) with Otrabanda)
















The ring from a distance









No parking (court and DA)

















Pedestrain zones

















The Scharlooweg









Customs










Some traffic signs









































Very old sign. Also: a car with Dutch plates









A car with Sint Maarten-plates









And of course: A Curaçao plate









Busstop. Only the Dutch word "Bushalte" is showed here. At busstops there is no information about buslines and departueretimes









The Rotterdamweg

















Some roadsigns on the island. The layout is Dutch. However, we use blue signs, and here green signs are used. the font and arrow are the same as in the Netherlands.


























































Dutch trafficlights

























Very old signage, unreadable.









Even older: A roadsign to Saliña, but unreadable









A plate with some signs which are used at roadworks. Minds the no-overtakingsign (expecially the position of the red and black car  )









"Inhalen Verboden" (no overtaking)









The ANWB, the Dutch organization reponsible for the most of the Dutch signs, has placed signs on Curaçao in the time that Curaçao still was a Dutch colony. Such signs can also be found on some spots in the Netherlands, but Curaçao as quite a lot of them. Unfortunately not all in a very good shape.

























































Some random roadpictures.









































































































































"Watch out. Speed humps"









McDonald's is everywhere 









A part of the ring close to and on the Queen Julianabridge (Koningin Julianabrug)

















































































Roundabout wich American schoolbus. All schoolbusses I have seen are American, but the exist in all colors.









Wilhelminaplein (plein=square)









And finally very rare: A bicyclelane


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## Slagathor (Jul 29, 2007)

Thanks for the photos! But what a dreadful place. I would feel like a prisoner if I had to live there. 

Dutch traffic lights look all out of place


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## xlchris (Jun 23, 2006)

Thanks for the pics indeed  Very nice. But they need to buy some new Dutch signs


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## snowman159 (May 16, 2008)

Very interesting, indeed! Thanks for sharing. :cheers:


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## Palance (Mar 23, 2005)

Slagathor said:


> But what a dreadful place. I would feel like a prisoner if I had to live there.


Are you sure? This is also Curaçao:










































And especially for the Dutch people :nuts:


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## Buddy Holly (Sep 24, 2008)

nice photos


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## Slagathor (Jul 29, 2007)

Palance said:


> Are you sure? This is also Curaçao:


There's nothing on those photos you can't get on the mainland where you aren't trapped on a tiny island


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## Timon91 (Feb 9, 2008)

^^Yes there is: sunny, warm weather all year long 

Nice report! It's indeed quite interesting to see the Dutch sings, especially those with the green background. I'd love to visit the Albert Heijn on Curacao some time


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## Slagathor (Jul 29, 2007)

Timon91 said:


> ^^Yes there is: sunny, warm weather all year long


I didn't say "Dutch mainland" - obviously that doesn't compare well


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Beautiful photos and cool island!  Feels kind of Dutch indeed. 

Is there any motorway on the island? Is that a motorway?


Palance said:


> The ring from a distance


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## Palance (Mar 23, 2005)

No, there are no motorways (or highways) on the island. Even all crossings are with trafficlights or roundabouts. There are only 2 or 3 fly-overs/dive-unders, like this interesting point on that ring (driving from the Arubastraat to the Julianabridge is fun )

BTW'The island was not cool, but very warm


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## xlchris (Jun 23, 2006)

They have an Albert Heijn?  Cool!


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

xlchris said:


> Cool!


Warm!


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## Timon91 (Feb 9, 2008)

When it's warm outside, it feels cool inside an Albert Heijn (year round same temperature). xlchris is somehow right


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Palance said:


> The Netherlands Antilles consist out of 5 islands in the Caribbean which belong to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This country is more or less independent: They do not belong to the Netherlands, but the Dutch Queen is officially in charge, and defence and foreign affairs is being led from the Netherlands. The Kingdom had one more country and that is Aruba.
> 
> I have been to the island Curaçao. The other islands are Bonaire, Saba, St.Esutatius and Sint Maartan, which is devided in a Dutch and French part.
> 
> ...


I would love to see these pictures. Can you put them back up?


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## Palance (Mar 23, 2005)

Road_UK said:


> I would love to see these pictures. Can you put them back up?


Better? 

(Not all of them were in my local map, but it's a start...)


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Brilliant, thank you very much! You can definitely recognize the Dutch influence, also some warning signs are very different. I believe all of them are Dutch design in Suriname? And some of the directional signs... Are they not pretty much the same as the ones in Holland during WW2?


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

I think this thread's title needs to be updated. Curacao is no longer part of the Dutch Antilles - which were extinct in late 2010.


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

Suburbanist said:


> I think this thread's title needs to be updated. Curacao is no longer part of the Dutch Antilles - which were extinct in late 2010.


It's probably the first entity that ceased to exist in the SSC era.
Now it's like having threads like "Deutsche Demokratische Republik autobahnnen", "Jugoslavija autoceste/avtoceste/autoput" or "Ceskoslovensko dialnice". 

Seriously, this thread can be renamed "Dutch oversea territories" to avoid having a separate thread for every small island.


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## Slagathor (Jul 29, 2007)

italystf said:


> Seriously, this thread can be renamed "Dutch oversea territories" to avoid having a separate thread for every small island.


That might be confusing. While Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius are part of the Netherlands as communes, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are actually countries in their own right. I should imagine they might be offended by the title "Dutch overseas territories."

Alternatively, we could rename the Dutch thread to "*Kingdom of* the Netherlands" - that actually includes everything.


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

I wonder if Saint Martin / Sint Marteen will get two separate threads in the future


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

Slagathor said:


> Alternatively, we could rename the Dutch thread to "Kingdom of the Netherlands" - that actually includes everything.


Since New Caledonia, Faer Oer and Greenland already have their own threads (those territories are very separated from their mainland) it's probably worth to do the same with Curacao.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

How about one thread for a country as a whole, and another sub-thread for the overseas territories belonging to that country. For example: France, and as sub-thread France: Overseas Territories that includes for example French-Guyana.


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## Satyricon84 (Feb 3, 2009)

Mods should renominate the "country finder" thread too since stands still Netherlands Antilles. 

Territories that have a kind of autonomy or far from the mainland deserve all own thread. It would be also less confusing and more tidy.


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## Ices77 (Nov 15, 2014)

*Drive along Curacao*

Along the island drive in Curacao, 4 time lapse:


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## ea1969 (Oct 6, 2007)

Since the first post on this thread, it seems that they have replaced the green direction signs with (proper Dutch) blue ones.


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## Slodi (Feb 25, 2006)

^^ blue signs have been there at least since mid of 2015
Here are some pictures I took there then.


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