YES!
There is a lot more to Honolulu than the beautiful and exciting Waikiki. Our steps today took us from Waikiki to Downtown Honolulu and to Chinatown, and all it had to offer in between - a 15 km round trip. Great to get the exercise done - think we did more than our 10,000 steps today! and also enjoy the sightseeing and exploring!
If you don't want to walk there are lots of great ways to get around Honolulu to sightsee and shop, all reasonably priced - local buses, the popular open sided trollies, the red open top Aloha Bus, the new dolphin buses, taxi and shuttle buses, hire cars, motor scooters, and bikes. Phew - lots of choices!
Our walk took us through Fort DeRussy and along Ala Moana Blvd to Downtown Honolulu and Chinatown. Along the way there are lots of Honolulu icons to see - the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Ala Wai Boat Harbour, the beautiful Ala Moana Beach Park and Beach, the huge Ala Moana Shopping Centre, Kewalo Basin - home to all the water sport and leisure businesses, the Ward Centre (good movie theatre there) and Ward Warehouse (more shops!).
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| Fort DeRussy Park is beautiful |
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| A tribute for The 100th Infantry Battalion - "The Purple Heart Battalion", The 442 Regimental Combat Team- "Go for Broke!", The 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion - the" Chowhounds", and the Military Intelligence Service - "M.I.S" stands proudly in the park. |
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| Fort DeRussy Army Chapel |
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Nice Starbucks in the Hilton's beautifully landscaped grounds - worth a stop!
A stroll through the Village is worthwhile - great shops, artwork and wildlife to enjoy! |
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| The new dolphin buses for great sightseeing |
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Unfortunately there are many homeless people in this lovely city.
Not an unusual sight |
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Ala Moana Beach Park is huge! They number the picnic areas in it it is so big -
we saw up to Area 29 and there could have been more! |
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| Kewalo Basin |
Punchbowl Street takes you into Downtown Honolulu where you discover the banks, the Federal buildings, the Hawaiian Pacific University, and the historic area of Honolulu. The area is an interesting mix of the old and the new; ornate structures standing amid tall mirrored buildings. The best view of this area is from the 10th floor viewing platform of the landmark Aloha Tower, centrepiece of the Aloha Tower Marketplace which sits alongside the Honolulu Cruise Boat Piers. Hugging Downtown is Chinatown with its fascinating characteristic street side food and merchandise markets.
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Royalist Robert Wilcox led a counter revolution after the Hawaiian Royalty was overthrown but it was unsuccessful
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| Fort Street Mall, Downtown |
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Great restaurants and Cafes
Favourite haunts for the University students who attend the nearby Hawaiian Pacific University |
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| We enjoyed a delicious Vietnamese meal here |
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| Seafood Poh- so good! |
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| Satay BBQ Pork Ribs and Spring Rolls |
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| Hawaii Pacific University |
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| A historic Church nestles in the Mall |
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| A monument in Fort Street Mall recognising the Portuguese arrival and settlement in Hawaii |
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| The Hawaii Theatre |
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| The impressive entrance gates to Chinatown |
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| The Tower offers a 360 degree view of Honolulu |
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| Looking towards Waikiki |
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| Honolulu Harbour |
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| The Chinatown area |
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| Downtown and its soaring buildings |
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| Honolulu Harbour entrance and Harbour |
Loved the historic area! - very interesting and is all within a two block radius. Along South King Street are Mission Houses Museum, Kawaiaha'o Church, Honolulu Hale, Ali'iolani Hale, and the stately 'Iolani Palace.
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Kawaiaha'o Church - the first Christian Church in Oahu built between 1836-1842.
It is made of 1,000 pound coral slabs quarried by hand from reefs.
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Ali'iolani Hale
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King Kamehameha Statue.
"The Great" 1756-1819
Hawaii's greatest historic figure, also known as Kamehameha the First,
he was the head of a dynasty that ruled the hawaiian islands for nearly a century. |
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| The impressively adorned main entrance gates to the Palace |
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| The King, and his sister who became Queen |
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The Hawaii State Capitol
It opened on March 16, 1969, replacing the former statehouse Iolani Palace.
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Fancy shoe covers!
Mandatory for exploring the palace! |
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The Audio Tour was excellent - interesting and informative about hawaii's history and culture
A must do when you are in Honolulu!
Enjoy looking through the palace.............................. |
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| The Grand Hall with its amazing original staircase |
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What an elegant dining room!
The King was very interested in inventions and amazed his guests with his
electric light chandeliers - he was the first to use them. |
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| He also had a flushing toilet installed for his guests - another first! |
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The grand Throne Room
This is where you would enter the palace and be greeted when you were attending a royal function. |
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| The King's bedroom |
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| The Library |
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| An interesting bookcase |
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Another invention he was proud to have in the palace.
The telephone takes pride of place in the Library. |
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The Music Room
Both the King and Queen appreciated music and were both excellent composers.
The King wrote and composed Hawaii's National Anthem, while 100's of the Queen's
compositions are played and sung today. |
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The room where the Queen was imprisoned for 8 months after the Royals were overthrown.
President Clinton apologised to the Hawaiian people for that unlawful overthrow of their monarchy.
She was a remarkable Queen and much loved by her people.
Her life and her role in hawaiian history is really interesting...............
Liliuokalani - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| One of the things the Queen spent her time doing while imprisoned was to sew this magnificent quilt |
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| This section of the quilt tells the story of her imprisonment |
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| The Queen's bedroom |
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The Queen (seated) and her sister when they attended Queen Victoria's Coronation.
Queen Victoria really liked the Hawaiian Royals and at the Coronation she
sat them with her own family. |
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Top: The Royal Diamond - stunning!
13,880 carats |
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| Beautiful gold jewellery! |
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The Barracks at the Palace - today it houses a Ticket Office, Gift Shop and
a Theatre featuing a film covering the history of the Palace - worth viewing
before you tour the palace. |
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| The Gazebo in the lawned Palace grounds |
On our return journey we retraced our steps but walked the beach side of Ala Moana beach Park - what a lovely area for enjoying picnics, exercising, swimming and enjoying the sun! There is a reef off shore giving the surfers a good wave but at the same time creating a huge lagoon area fantastic for swimming - a giant ocean swimming pool! A really nice alternative to Waikiki Beach! - not as crowded!!! and the sand is much nicer!
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| Wedding photos on the beach! |
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This tiny Dove is the bird song of Hawaii - you hear their distinctive cooing song all the time -it means Hawaii!
Their song is one of the first things you hear when you wake up in the morning. |
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| Perfect! |
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