Sunday, 15 December 2024

Panama City

Although I have been through the canal once before, I have never visited Panama City. I have the opportunity to do that today on a five-hour shore excursion, "Highlights of Panama City." Because there is a great deal of walking on this tour, Will is taking a different excursion, "Two Oceans by Railroad."

I will begin with my visit to several different parts of the city. As I mentioned in the previous blog, Marina is docked at the end of Amador, a very long peninsula jutting out into the Pacific Ocean. There are five buses doing this tour today, but my bus is the first to leave. As we drive up the beautifully landscaped causeway, there are marvelous views of the city skyline to the right and recently-built local communities and small businesses to the left. Prior to the transfer of the canal to Panamanian ownership on 31 December 1999, all of this area was a US military base.

Our guide tells us that he is not going to take the direct route to Old Panama, because there is a bike race and Christmas parade that will make driving difficult. Instead, he takes us on an hour-long detour through a number of very uninteresting neighborhoods. When we arrive at our first stop, lo! and behold!, all the other buses have arrived long before us--having taken the direct route. As a result of the guide's terrible decision, we are forced to stand and wait in the heat while passengers from the other four buses take their turns boarding trams to visit the open-air museum ahead of our group.

Entrance Sign at "Old Panama"

In 1519, Pedro Arias Dávila and 100 other inhabitants made this site the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Ocean. In 1671, Captain Henry Morgan sacked the city and the settlement was relocated and rebuilt as Casco Viejo, which the tour will visit next.

The museum at the site emphasizes the historical development of the community and many of the artifacts produced during its thriving 150 years.

Museo de la Plaza Mayor

The compound is blessed with many old-growth trees:

And at the bus parking lot--an artificial Christmas tree:

Like the original inhabitants, we journey from Old Panama to Colonial Panama (Casco Viejo), but the views are very different as we drive through the extraordinary post-modern architecture of downtown Panama City. I wish there were a tour that focused on these incredible structures. The bus was going too fast for photos, but I was able to snap these as I exited the bus to start the walking tour.

The tour enters the restored colonial area while the bay is at low tide:

Most of the structures have been beautifully and authentically restored; many are bedecked with fresh flowers, and some with Christmas decorations.

The group enters the Church of Saint Joseph (1575), to see the magnificent gold altar, as well as a large model displaying Nativity scenes in many different cultures.

We pass the romantic ruins of the Church and Convent of the Company of Jesus (la Compañía) (1741), destroyed by fire and now part of the priciest hotel in the city.

The group is on the way to Cathedral Plaza and a visit to the recently remodeled main church of the city, with a very long name:  The Metropolitan Archcathedral Basilica of Santa María la Antigua. Constructed from 1688 to 1796, it was designed by Nicolas Rodriguez, a military engineer. 

The cathedral anchors the main plaza of the colonial city, but shares space with one of the most ornate buildings and one of the oldest. A gazebo centers the pedestrian-friendly square.

It rains at some time every day in Panama City. We are lucky the deluge holds off until we are on the bus riding back down the causeway to Amador and the Marina.

Will's excursion takes him on a round-trip train journey along the tracks used to help build the canal. He has some close-up views of large ships passing through the locks we sailed through the previous day. We both are back on board around the same time and scurry to the Waves Cafe for a quick lunch.

But this has been a very long blog, so I will save the food details for another day.