Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
exhibition of 1870, and Aruba received the masterpiece in 1928. You may
be able to get inside on weekdays, and Catholic mass is held Monday,
Wednesday, Friday at 6:30 pm, Saturday at 7 pm, and Sunday at 7:30 am
and 6 pm. Look for the church on Caya Francisco D. Figueroa, south of
Highway 3A/B, inland from Palm Beach,
297-587-1409.
From Santa Anna Church, take Smith Blvd
(Highway 1A/B) north, past the high-rise hotels
and the village of Malmok, to an elevated
stretch of land on the far north end of the island.
This isolated area is known by its Caiquetio
name, Hudishibana, but most people call it the
California Dunes because of the mounds of
white sand that surround the focal point, the
California Lighthouse .
The stone lighthouse was designed by a French
architect in 1910 and then constructed on
Aruba between 1914 and 1916. It's named after
the S.S. California , a wooden-hulled barquen-
tine (or barkentine, a three- to five-masted sailing ship) that sank near
shore more than a century ago. The coral-encrusted wreck is popular
among underwater photographers, but rough seas and strong currents
make it difficult to reach and advisable only for advanced divers on a calm
day.
Did You Know? You may read elsewhere or hear
tour guides claim that the S.S. California was the
ship that disregarded distress signals from the sink-
ing Titanic . In fact, the captain who failed to re-
spond to the “mayday” signals was aboard another
liner, named simply California . That vessel was hit
by a German torpedo during World War I and sank
near southern Greece.
You can't go inside the lighthouse, but stand on the plateau and look out
over the sea, down the coast at a string of fabulous beaches, and across the
sand dunes to the irrigated greens of Tierra del Sol Golf Course. Plan to be
at the foot of the lighthouse late in the afternoon for a beautiful view of the
sun setting to the west. You can grab a pizza from 3 until 6 pm at La Trat-
toria El Farro Blanco , the nearby Italian restaurant. The trattoria
serves dinner after six. See Where to Eat, page 132, for a full review.
The prestigious residential/vacation golfing neighborhood of Tierra del
Sol is just south and east of the lighthouse. Golfers should consider stay-
ing at the resort here or signing up for tee times on the championship
course. Farther south, the windward east coast turns into a wild country-
side called the cunucu. You'll need a four-wheel-drive vehicle to travel
some of the roughest dirt roads and paths.
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search