Our latest discovery for a destination with beauty and brains is Curaçao. During a Caribbean cruise years ago, we never ventured beyond the port of Willemstad and its duty-free shopping. But a recent stay on the island revealed a long and colorful history, along with plenty of culture to keep things interesting.

Willemstad is built around a natural deep-water harbor that has made Curaçao, an island that lies outside the hurricane belt, a major trading port for 500 years. Over the centuries, the native Arawak population witnessed invasion and immigration by Spanish and Dutch explorers, French and English colonists, Portuguese Jews displaced by the Inquisition, and slaves forcibly brought from Africa.

The resulting cultural stew provides an architectural mix of historic buildings, including the oldest continuously operating synagogue in the Western hemisphere, with a congregation established in 1651. Particularly intriguing is the Kura Hulanda Museum. A series of historic buildings clustered around a former slave yard, it chronicles the plight of slaves and their quest for freedom.

Read the full story, originally published on December 20, 2015, on Philly.com.