Downtown Kralendijk

We went for a visit to downtown Kralendijk for no particular reason. The downtown area is not very large, but is very colourful. Most of the shops and restaurants there exist to appease the cruise ship visitors, which contribute significantly to the economy through purchase of flamingo shaped trinkets and donkey sanctuary swag. The art hotel is the most colourful of all the buildings as they've settled on stripes.

  

 

The rest of the businesses in this area are painted every shade of the pastel rainbow, but they still manage to not compete with the blue of the sky and sea. 

 

 

The buildings are always painted in bright colours, which makes for good photos of them. Right now the stores are prepping for Karnaval, which is their version of Mardi Gras and runs for most of the month, so they are full of extra colourful merchandise and creepy masks. 

In addition to the colourful exteriors, many buildings have murals painted by local artists. Some of them are of island celebrities, and some are just art for art's sake. The overall effect of all the colours has led me to believe that dressing in black here is likely the equivalent of wearing high-viz gear since I don't blend in to the colours. 

 

Downtown is right on the sea, with some of the businesses extending out into it. The cruise ships dock right here, and release their hoards.The island's official population is just over 20,000, so a ship dropping off between 2,000 and 4,000 guests makes for a big increase. Additionally, sometimes two come in at a time, and since I've been here, there has been at least one ship every day. The island is still adapting to this regular influx, and a cottage industry of island tours/guiding has popped up. Most of the ex-pats avoid the downtown area and the stores when a ship is docked, we waited until one had left so that we didnt have to dodge tourists.  

We stopped at a local ice cream spot to see if they had better wares than the gelato place we went to last time. My mother noticed this sign, of which I highly approve. 

This place wasn't especially exciting and we didn't eat there, but I liked their sign, understated paint, and the fallen princess leaning on their gate.