Why Is It Called San Nicolas? (Not the Reason You Think)

Ask anyone, including plenty of people on Aruba, why the island's second city is called San Nicolas — you'll also see it spelled San Nicolaas, Sint Nicolaas or St. Nicolas, all the same town — and you'll get the obvious answer: it's named after Saint Nicholas. Patron saint of sailors, the Sinterklaas of the Dutch tradition. Makes sense for a Dutch-Caribbean port town, right?

Wrong.

No saint ever set foot here

The real story doesn't start in a church. And that's nearly all we can say, because the answer is still physically visible today, painted on a building that thousands of tourists walk past without a second glance.

Here's what we can tell you without ruining it:

• The name has nothing to do with religion.
• The truth is hiding in plain sight, in big painted letters, somewhere in town.
• We are not putting it on the internet. You will earn it at the final stop.

Why we won't spoil it

This is the finale of our walking quest, The Secrets of San Nicolas, the moment where the whole 90-minute story clicks into place. Rudy & Rosa, your local hosts, walk you from the town's most famous murals through its boom, bust, and rebirth… and then hand you the town's name like a key. Players tell us it's the moment they remember.

You could look it up, sure. But standing in front of those doors when the answer lands? That's the difference between reading about a place and knowing it.