Until the Europeans came,
HONOLULU
was insignificant; soon so many
foreign ships were frequenting its
waters that it had become
Kamehameha's capital, and it remains
the economic center of the island.
The city covers a long (if narrow)
strip of southern Oahu, but
downtown
is a manageable size, and a lot
quieter than its glamorous image
might suggest. The tourist hotels,
and most of Honolulu's hustle, are
concentrated among the skyscrapers
of very distinct
WAIKIKI, a
couple of miles east.
The setting is beautiful, right
on the Pacific and backed by
dramatic cliffs and the extinct
volcanoes of Punchbowl (a
military cemetery) and Diamond
Head ; but then beauty is not so
rare a commodity on Hawaii, and you
can see this sort of scenery in
plenty of other places without a
city in the middle of it. What
attracts most visitors to stay in
Honolulu, and especially Waikiki, is
the sheer hedonism of
shopping, eating and generally
hanging out in the sun. It's also
the center of an exemplary public
transportation system,
facilitating exploration of the
whole island.
