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Aruba Vacations, Hotels, Luxury Resorts, Honeymoon Vacations and Travel Packages
Aruba has a mélange of people from the South American and European continents, also from the Far East and other islands of the Caribbean. These different settlers have added a unique flavor to the lives of the inhabitants of Aruba island.
ORANJESTAD - THE CAPITAL CITY OF ARUBA
Located on Aruba's picturesque southern coast, Oranjestad is the historical Dutch capital city where the tall multicolored houses of Wilheminastraat combine carved wooded doors and traditional Dutch tiles with airy open galleries and sloping, Aruban-style roofs. Along the wharf, merchants come to sell fresh fish and produce right off the boats every morning. All of Aruba's government buildings and main offices are located in the capital city.
Streaming Video of Aruba
 Oranjestad is also the place to shop or to browse in the marketplace for Aruba art and local handicrafts. Depending on the time of year, you could also find yourself in the middle of Carnival, a summertime festival, the New Year's fireworks, or even a parade in honor of the Queen. At any time of year, Oranjestad is the bustling meeting place of tourists and locals alike.
Aruba's first inhabitants were the Caquetios Indians from the Arawak tribe. Fragments of the earliest known Indian settlements date back to about 1000 A.D, as do the ancient painted symbols still visible on limestone caves found at Fontein, Ayo and elsewhere. Pottery remnants can still be seen at the Aruba Museum of Archaeology.
Some centuries later, the first European landed on Aruba's shores. Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda is thought to have arrived about 1499. The Spanish promptly exported the Indians of Aruba to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where they were put to work in the copper mines.
In 1636, near the culmination of the Eighty Years' War between Spain and Holland, the Dutch took possession of Aruba and remained in control for nearly two centuries. In 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, the English briefly took control over Aruba, but it was returned to Dutch control in 1816. Although Aruba continues to exist within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it functions independently.
If you wish to learn how to dive, take a Resort Certification Scuba Diving Course so as not to miss out on the beauty, not to mention excitement, of Aruba's underwater world. Divers with Open Water Certification can enjoy the many diving sites Aruba has to offer; go wall diving, reef diving, or explore wrecks sunk during World War II. If a visitor prefers to remain close to the surface and snorkel, they may enjoy not only the beauty of the coral formations, but also the wreck sites with a visibility, at some sites, of 100 feet.
Many choose Aruba as their vacation paradise specifically because of their love for glitzy and glamorous casinos! You can spend so much time in the lavishly appointed casinos, it can be hard to tell the difference between night and day!
A few casinos in Aruba are open 24 hours a day. In general, opening hours are 11 a.m. for slots and 1 p.m. through early morning for table games. Hours vary seasonally, so please check before making plans. No one under 18 is allowed in the casinos.
The larger casinos in Aruba feature live first class entertainment imported from other countries such as the United States and Latin America.
Consider a deep sea fishing Aruba vacation : In the temperate waters around Aruba, a variety of Atlantic game fish can be caught year-round. Sailfish, white and blue marlin, wahoo, shark, barracuda, amberjack, kingfish, bonito, and blackfin and yellowfin tuna are abundant.The experienced captain and his/her first mate will help the vacationing fishing enthusiast bring in any fish, even if they have little previous experience. Many restaurants in Aruba will even cook and serve your catch of the day!
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Aruba Vacation Guide
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