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Walking down the narrow streets of Willemstad, you see, hear and feel the results of the cultural evolution. Many of the vendors greet you with Kon ta bai!, which means "How's it going?" The native language, Papiamentu, takes words from Dutch and blends them with English, Portuguese, Spanish, Indian and African languages. Listen, and you'll hear English words such as okay, payday and flat tire.
Art Galleries
 To see the creative influence of Caribbean multiculturalism, visit the world-class art galleries in Willemstad. Vivid oils and dazzling watercolors reflect a rich pallet of tropical colors while murals and statues capture the struggles and heroism of daily life. In Punda, Gallery '86 and D'art galleries exhibit contemporary oils, sculpture and photography from local and international artists. In Otrobanda, Kas di Alma Blou (Home of the Blue Soul), located in the 19th-century Landhuis Habaai near the pontoon bridge, exhibits a large collection of local fine art and crafts, including a sculpture garden. Gallery Mon Art exhibits work created by members of the local artists association Artevishon, while Carib Fine Art in Hotel Kurá Hulanda displays sculptures, ceramics and gift items created by local and Caribbean artists.
Since many of the artists operate their own galleries/studios, you can often meet the person behind the paintings. Look for the larger-than-life Blue Goddess on the wall of Nena Sánchez's studio in Punda. Her vivacious paintings reflect a passion for her native culture. Marianne Cats, named best artist of the 2002 Curaçao Art Festival, focuses on landscapes and architecture. Jean Girigori, who studied art in New York, portrays her feminine subjects in brilliant hues. Also inspired by island women, Monique Elmondalek uses bold patterns and colors to create surrealistic, neo-pop images. Yubi Kirindongo, who received Curaçao's prestigious Cola Debrot prize, creates found-object sculpture with discarded computers, scrap wire and iron and driftwood.
Museums
Curaçao's collection of museums displays the island's rich cultural heritage. The Curaçao Museum, housed in a building from 1853, showcases antique furnishings, a locomotive and art from the island's best-known artists. The Kurá Hulanda Museum, located on the site of the slave auction, chronicles the African slave trade in Curaçao and the influences of the West African, Mesopotamian and pre-Columbian cultures.
Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue houses the Jewish Historical Cultural Museum. The collection describes the history of Jewish immigration to the island and displays a Torah from 1492, a 300-year-old circumcision chair and other religious artifacts.
To see the colorful stamps and old coins from the Netherlands Antilles, visit the Postal Museum and the Central Bank's Numismatic Museum. The Maritime Museum, in a mansion from 1729 near the Floating Market, highlights the island's rich shipping and naval history. Designed to resemble a ship's interior, the museum offers harbor tours.
Landhuizen (Plantation Houses)
The Dutch plantation heritage of Curaçao is preserved in 55 remaining landhuizen across the island. From the 1600s through the mid-1800s, wealthy landowners used slave labor to raise corn, cotton, beans, indigo and aloe, and then after abolition, cattle. The villas were built with coral stone or red brick and capture water with high-pitched tile roofs. About 20 restored plantation houses are open to the public as museums, galleries, restaurants and inns.
The gallery/museum Landhuis Bloemhof in Willemstad maintains a permanent art collection with rotating exhibitions, workshops and concerts. Landhuis Chobolobo is home of the Senior Company Distillery, which produces the famous Curacao liqueur. Landhuis Knip and Landhuis Ascension are furnished with antiques and open for tours. Landhuis Brievengat is open on selected evenings for dining and dancing. Landhuis Dokterstuin specializes in Creole cuisine, while Landhuis Brakkeput Mei Mei serves a mixed grill and salad bar. Landhuis Daniel Country Inn and Restaurant offers romantic guest rooms and dining.
After seeing the lifestyle of the wealthy landowners, visit Kas di Pal'i Maishi northeast of Willemstad. Built 130 years ago, this thatched-roof adobe house displays period household artifacts that illustrate the rural Afro-Curaçaoans' lifestyle until the 1950s. It also serves a local lunch.
Festivals
 Besides the annual music events, the island celebrates its cultural heritage with the month-long Harvest Festival. The extravaganza begins with a parade in Otrobanda the Monday after Easter and continues for three more weekends. The parades recreate the festive march, or seú, by slaves bringing in the harvest, where the women carried baskets on their heads while men played drums and blew cow horns. The stylized motions and singing symbolized planting and harvesting the crops. The folklore parades recreate the tradition with elaborate costumes, dance and music.
With its fusion of cultures, Curaçao is more than a fun-in-the-sun destination. Stroll the street markets, browse the galleries, listen to the music, attend a living history or storytelling performance and you'll feel the richness of a culture energized by ethnic diversity.
The Sounds of Curaçao
Musicians in Curaçao's rich multi-ethnic culture play Latin and Caribbean music that features reggae, calypso, merengue, salsa, mariachi and Curaçao's own tambu and tumba rhythms.
Jazz didn't gain a foothold on the island until the 1960s, but today the annual jazz festival in May sizzles with the world's premier jazz artists.
The pounding beat of Curaçao's tumba music originated with the rhythms, lyrics, improvised instruments and dance the slaves used to help alleviate their oppression. The Tumba Festival, held just before Carnival, sets the pace, literally, for the celebration. Musicians from across the Dutch Antilles compete for the official Carnival Road March Song, which is played by all the marching groups in the Grand Parade and for weeks before Carnival. Then, come September, the island pounds with the beat of salsa during the Salsa Festival. Star performers from across Latin America join for a fusion of traditional, Colombian, Venezuelan, Puerto Rican and Curaçaoan rhythms.
Check out Curacao's cultural festivals and events.
View 360 degree images of Curacao's historic forts and buildings, including Fort Amsterdam, Fort Nassau, Mikve Israel-Emanual Synagogue and much more.
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What do you get when you blend a Colonial Dutch heritage with the influences of English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and African settlers on a 38-mile-long island that grows cacti better than crops? 
