Aruba is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean . 29 kilometres north of Venezuela and 80 kilometres northwest of Curaçao. In 1986, Aruba became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and acquired the formal name the Country of Aruba.
Aruba has an area of 179 km2 . And measures 32 kilometres in length from its northwestern to its southeastern end and is 10 kilometres across at its widest point. It has a population of 108,000
We were not wowed by Aruba. The Silversea tour was rubbish, and even wandering ourselves after the tour, we failed to find anything memorable
Click on thumbnail photo below to get larger photo
 |
 |
Aruba. We had a very quick breakfast in La Terassa at 7:15 before going to shore soon after eight for a four hour tour of the island , there were eight coaches. First of all stopped at the butterfly museum: this was picturesque with gorgeous blue butterflies that we had seen years ago in Venezuela.
Click on thumbnail photo below to get larger photo
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
After this we visited a site that has had in the distant past a spectacular natural volcanic arch. But 25 years ago when it had collapsed. Here we had a pleasant walk alongside the dramatic shore with large breakers breaking.
Click on thumbnail photo below to get larger photo
 |
 |
 |
 |
With that we went on to the aloe Vera production site where we were shown how the jelly like interior of this plant was made into cosmetics and other products. This was a straight forward "shopping opportunity" stop. Then back to the capital Oranjestad. En route we saw hideous new multi story hotels under construction..
Click on thumbnail photo below to get larger photo
 |
 |
 |
 |
Back on the ship we had lunch in the Marquee restaurant and then went to shore again for a walk around the town but there was not that much interesting there and it was hot and humid.The town was "cruise ship" Caribbean, and had lost any local colour.
Click on thumbnail photo below to get larger photo
 |
 |
 |
Back a board I went for a swim, very pleasant and no one else in the pool then we had coffee and some cakes from the arts café in our balcony. After this a siesta as I had suffered severely from a cramp the previous night.
At 7 pm, we went for a cocktail down in the Dolce Vita bar where Alfredo played, but I found this quite dark and not nearly so uplifting as other bars. We then ate in the Silver |Note and again had a very pleasant meal, although there was a hiccup with the second round of starters which proved to be identical to our first round of starters: the waiter dealt well with this, but the maître day less so.
Later we went to the show, but this proved very loud and the lights were far too bright for me so we left and came and sat on our balcony for awhile.