Thursday, December 15, 2022

Dundu Tours E-scooter Tour of Willemstad

One of our favorite non-aquatic activities during our week in Curaçao was Dundu Tours's E-scooter tour of capital Willemstad.

The Dundu Tours E-scooter tour through Willemstad web page provides this overview of this tour:

Discover in a comfortable tour the 4 districts of Willemstad, cruise on a very unique and rugged e-scooter (e-chopper) through the most beautiful streets of Punda, Otrobanda, Pietermaai and Scharloo." A photograph of the low-to-ground and easy-to-drive e-scooter/e-chopper is shown next.

The Dundu Tours E-scooter tour through Willemstad web page also states:

Ride on this fancy e-scooter from neighborhood to neighborhood and discover the complete city of Willemstad in just 2 hours. Besides the beautiful murals, the colonial monuments and the colorful alleys you will be amazed by the true history of Curacao.

The section "What is an e-scooter?" of the Dundu Tours E-scooter tour through Willemstad web page describes the e-scooter well:

An e-scooter is an electronically powered scooter, some also call this vehicle e-chopper because of the rugged low frame and high handlebars that make the e-scooter easy to operate. The e-scooter is noiseless which provides a pleasant and special driving experience. Start your e-engine and get a breath of fresh air in Willemstad!

Our party of four made up the entire group for this morning tour and Kimberly was our enthusiastic and informative guide.

We met Kimberly, practiced riding the e-scooters in Plaza Piar, and started the e-scooter tour at Plaza Piar in Punda near the Iguana Ride Curaçao doorway.

The price of the tour was either $50 (USD) or Nafl 90, payable in cash at beginning of the tour.

Riding the e-scooters allowed us to see much more of Willemstad than a walking tour would have allowed in the same two hours and it was more comfortable to ride than walk in the late morning warmth (temperature was warm even in December).

Much of the focus of this tour was on incredible street art (especially murals) and buildings and architecture thoughout the districts of Punda, Otrobanda, Pietermaai (district in which we stayed at Scuba Lodge & Suites), and Scharloo.

Because our meeting point was in the Punda district of Willemstad, that's also the district we first toured.

The Scharoo district is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing for Willemstad.

It was easy to see the attraction of the Street Art Skalo area.

This photograph shows how the exterior fence was painted to look like an extension of the house and yard visible above the fence.

We enjoyed getting a close-up view of the Queen Juliana Bridge, which is said to be the "highest bridge in the entire Caribbean." There is a YouTube video showing what it's like to drive across this bridge, but what it doesn't show is the incredible view of Willemstad from this bridge that passengers in vehicles driving over the bridge can enjoy (traffic moves so quickly on this bridge that drivers only get very brief glimpses).

Our tour included time in the Fleur de Marie area and we saw the colorful basketball court called Fleur de Marie Sport Field.

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The Scharloo mansions are majestic.

We were already fairly familiar with the Pietermaai district because that's where we stayed (Scuba Lodge) for the week, but it was fun to ride through its streets in the scooters.

We rode through Punda to the Queen Emma Bridge.

We walked our scooters across Queen Emma Bridge rather than riding them across. This is another place to get a nice view of the Queen Juliana Bridge.

The view of Punda and Handelskade from Queen Emma Bridge is arguably even more impressive.

After crossing Queen Emma Bridge, we hopped back onto our scooters on "the other side" (Otrobanda).

This mural is of Tula, a hero in Curaçao who, according to Wikipedia, is "revered as a fighter for human rights and independence." Tula led the Curaçao Slave Revolt of 1795, but sadly was executed on 3 October 1795.

One of our Otrobanda stops (Hendriksteeg) was at Giovanni Abath's "Flowers of the Sky, which was created as part of the 2022 edition (Kurá Edition) of the Kaya Kaya Festival."

There was street art everywhere you looked around the "Flowers in the Sky" display. This is evidence of the success of the Kaya Kaya Street Festival.

This artwork made out of pieces of blue and green plastic bottles left interesting shadows and other effects of light on the ground as one walks under it.

This is a mural by Jhomar Loaiza.

Even long-dead trees can be colorful in Willemstad!

This is another Giovanni Abath piece created (Konosé bo mes i lo bo konosé Universo or "Know yourself and you will know the universe") as part of Kaya Kaya 2022.

Another Giovanni Abath piece (from Kaya Kaya 2019) is "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery" (based on Bob Marley and Marcus Garvey).

There is so much interesting street art and other artwork in the general area.

Crossing the Queen Emma Bridge to return to Punda provided another opportunity to photograph Handelskade.

The e-scooter tour with Kimberly was fun, educational, and a great opportunity to learn some history of Curaçao and Willemstad while enjoying its street art and colorful architecture.

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