We arrived in Panama City knowing almost nothing about it. Ok, knowing one major thing about it. Having recently traveled through the Magellan Strait (see post here), the European quest for a western sea route to Asia was still fresh in our minds. The canal, started by the French in 1881 but completed by the Americans in 1914, finally fulfilled the promise of uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It took over 32 years and huge costs in both money and human life to build this modern engineering marvel, through which over 300 million tons of cargo now pass every year. It was certainly impressive to watch a huge chemical tanker travel smoothly through the Miraflores Locks. Note that ships actually move under their own power in the canal, but are kept in place (i.e. prevented from hitting the walls) by anywhere from 2-8 specially designed locomotives (see picture 3).
But Panama City is of course more than just the Pacific entrance to the canal. It’s a metropolitan city with interesting history, a beautiful old center, and a pretty good microbrewery (truly the standard by which all cities should be judged). We spent 7 days here so were able to take our time exploring, no bad thing as the 35+ degree heat and blazing sun can slow you down a bit. We visited the original city ruins (Panama City was the first Spanish colonial city in the Americas, making it, by at least one measure, the oldest capital), took a day trip to Taboga Island, and just wandered around enjoying the local culture.
The area of the first Spanish settlement was surrounded by marshland
The settlement is located 5 km east of the current city center
This is the view from the cathedral tower
After Sir Henry Morgan destroyed Panama old town in 1671, the settlement was moved 8km west
Approaching Taboga Island
The town was really small
A lot of people on the beach which was getting smaller as the tide came in
We found a great spot under a tree on this pile of rocks that turned out to become an actual island once the tide came in. We had to relocate in order not to get stuck
The view of Panama City from the water is pretty impressive
A fair number of container ships were waiting around to cross through the canal
Building by Frank Gehry
Church in the old town
Renovated house
Fascade
View of Panama old town (or new town after the Morgan raid)
A walk on the boardwalk of San Felipe. A distinct lack of shade here. It was very hot