THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 87

Avenida Central
The best way to see Casco Viejo is on foot - you can reach it from the rest of the city by
taxi or by taking any bus to Plaza Cinco de Mayo, then walking up Avenida Central , past
Parque Santa Ana and the famous Café Coca Cola , as it narrows into a cobbled street, passing
through the now invisible city walls into the historic centre. The rows of lottery ticket sellers
- who number over ten thousand across the country - doing a brisk trade on the left-hand
pavement provide an obvious clue to the function of the striking blue-and-white-striped Art
Deco building - one of two homes of the national lottery (the other lies on Avenida Perú). A
stone's throw further along on the left is the gleaming white and cream Neoclassical Casa de
la Municipalidad , seat of the city's government.
Iglesia de la Merced
C 10 at Av Central
Next door to the Casa de la Municipalidad stands the crumbling Baroque facade of the city's
oldest church, Iglesia de la Merced , which in 1680 was reconstructed on its present site us-
ing the original stones from Panamá Viejo. The facade is the best-preserved section of the
church, which gives way inside to some poorly conceived twentieth-century restoration work,
though the gilded wooden altar retains some appeal.
Plaza de la Catedral
Craft market daily 8am-6pm; flea market first non-bank-holiday Sunday of the month 10am-5pm
Midway down Avenida Central the street opens out into the old quarter's most impressive
square, Plaza de la Catedral , also known as Plaza Mayor and Plaza de la Independencia
since the proclamations of independence from Spain and separation from Colombia were
made here, in which the Grand Hotel , on the east side of the plaza and under restoration,
played a starring role. Numerous busts of the nation's founding fathers are scattered beneath
the shady trees surrounding the striking central gazebo, with the Republic's first president,
Manuel Amador Guerrero, taking pride of place. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
the space was used for bullfights and theatrical presentations, becoming a park at the end of
the nineteenth century, now frequented by elderly residents reading the paper and occasional
street vendors.
A daily craft market , Artesanías Maggy, is tucked away in the southwestern corner of the
square, and a small flea market is held in the plaza once a month, with stalls selling arts,
crafts and bric-a-brac. In the summer months the square often hosts free evening concerts.
La Catedral
Plaza de la Catedral • No fixed opening hours • Free
Flanked by white towers sparkling with inlaid mother-of-pearl, the hybrid Neoclassical and
Baroque olive and cream sandstone facade of the Catedral Metropolitana dominates the
square. It was built between 1688 and 1796 using some of the stone brought from the ruins