In contrast to prominent US cities like Doral-FL, Boston-MA, Chicago-IL, Austin-TX and San Francisco-CA, Oranjestad is not quite as rumbustious.

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You won’t come upon sirens, noise, roars and rumble, hustle and bustle and dog eat dog vibrations when walking the streets of the capital city of Aruba. And yet, the city of Oranjestad is convinced that she can add distinctive value to these major US cities through sister cities relationships.

To the locals, the city is known as Playa, which is short for “Playa Caballos” – (Bay of Horses) which name was given to the harbor town in the early days of Spanish colonization and which was later translated into Dutch as Paardenbaai.

The city started out as a horse ranch and perhaps there’s still a subliminal relaxed sensation one feels when in Oranjestad-Aruba. Nonetheless, Oranjestad cannot quite be characterized as a sleepy town either. There’s considerable “giddy-up” in the 80-plus nationalities who live here in peace and harmony. The Dutch officially named Oranjestad in 1824 in honor of King William I of the Netherlands.