Dutch treat: Curacao is not your ordinary Caribbean island. Beyond beaches and water sports, it's a slice of history that goes back to the Dutch colonists of the 1600s - Executive Travel Curacao, Netherland Antilles

South Florida CEO, June, 2002 by Johanna Marmon

"THERE, SMELL THIS BASIL," SAYS DINAH Veeris, plucking a leaf from the bright green plant growing in the shade. She holds the leaf up to her kind, broad face and inhales deeply, then offers the aromatic herb to her visitor. She smiles benignly as she continues through the rows of herbs and medicinal plants, pointing out berries that symbol good luck and heavy squash gourds that puportedly bring rain.

Veeris' cultivated plot is called Den Paradera, an herb garden open to the public in the heart of Seru Grandi, a suburb of Willemstad, Curacao's capital. The garden, based on traditional Caribbean folk medicine and herbal remedies, is an oasis of green among the scrub cactus and arid landscape of the island's interior. In a way, she has achieved what all of Curacao has accomplished: coaxing abundant life out of stubborn, rocky ground.

Curacao is one of three Caribbean islands that make up the Netherland Antilles (the others are Aruba and Bonaire), a tiny archipelago off the coast of Venezuela. Together the islands form a parliamentary democracy that is an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Curacao, the largest of the three islands and home to the chain's capital city, revels in its history, while at the same time taking pleasure in the everyday beauty of the Caribbean. It's a delightful contrast to experience: one day strolling around Willemstad, peppered with gingerbread-trimmed pastel buildings built in the 16th and 17th centuries, the next visiting Boka Tabla on the west side of the island, with its breathtaking vista of jagged volcanic cliffs and glittering sand made of thousands of tiny shells in vivid purples, greens and reds.

A two-hour plane ride from Miami, Curacao is a perfect escape for a long weekend getaway. Even so, you'll think you're a world away, from the floating market in Willemstad -- where boats from Venezuela sell fish and vegetables -- to the Mikveh Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere. Cultural variety and history surround you in Curacao, which claims a mix of residents from more than 50 nationalities. For pure history, there is the Kura Hulanda, an eight-square-block complex in the recently revived Otrabanda neighborhood just across Queen Emma Bay from Willemstad. We stayed at the Hotel Kura Hulanda, a luxurious enclave of restored historic buildings housing opulent suites. Amid this extravagance, Curacao's past meets it's future: the complex has not only hotels but the world's most comprehensive slavery museum, a maze of rooms filled with artifacts such as letters, books and -- more disturbing -- shackles and other barbaric restraining devices. The museum sits on the exact site where sl aves were off loaded more than 300 years ago.

If it's pure fun and sun that you want, you can stay at the Curacao Marriott or the Avila Beach Hotel, both sitting on the white-sand beaches that most tourists crave while visiting the Caribbean. We spent a glorious afternoon snorkeling among the parroffish and sea anemone just offshore the grounds of the Curacao Marriott. Dinner that night was at Rijstaffel, a restaurant whose name literally translates as "rice table." No wonder: a dozen or more small meat and vegetable dishes were served, in traditional style, in copper pots alongside mounds of fluffy white rice. This Indonesian meal (Indonesia was another Dutch colony) was authentically delicious, as was the Indian food served at Jaipur, one of the restaurants at Kura Hulanda. And to wash it down? Curacao drinking water -- desalinated Caribbean seawater which is among the cleanest, most refreshing water anywhere, the same water used for locally-produced Amstel beer.

The best things about Curacao, however, is that it's still relatively undiscovered, meaning you won't knock heads with throngs of tourists doing the boozecruise thing. It's a Caribbean vacation that takes you to another time and place.

For information on traveling to Curacao, call 1-800-3CURACAO, or visit the Website www.curacaotourism.com.