The Handelskade is the most photographed view in the Dutch Caribbean: a row of tall 18th-century merchant houses lining the waterfront of the Sint Annabaai, painted in sherbet pinks, yellows, blues, and ochres, their gabled facades reflected in the harbour water. The buildings date from the Dutch colonial trading era when Willemstad was one of the wealthiest ports in the Caribbean.
Walking along the Handelskade on the Punda side gives you the full effect — cross from Otrobanda on the Queen Emma Bridge for the best angle. In the evenings the facades glow golden, and the open-air bars along the water fill up. It is one of those views that lives up to the pictures.