THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 91

the theatre's splendour is obviously to attend one of the occasional productions, which are
sometimes free.
The ramparts
Two hundred metres southeast of the Teatro Nacional, steps lead up to Paseo Esteban Huer-
tas , a delightful, breezy, bougainvillea-covered promenade that runs some 400m along the
top of what were the ramparts. The walkway along the defensive sea wall is a favourite haunt
of smooching couples - earning it the nickname Paseo de los Inamorados - and Guna traders
displaying their handicrafts to passing tourists. At the far end, before descending the steps
into the Plaza de Francia, you get fine views across the bay. Peek over the wall here and you
can glimpse the windows of the dungeons where prisoners were allegedly left at low tide to
drown when the high tide flooded the cells.
Plaza de Francia
The Plaza de Francia , at the southeastern tip of Casco Viejo, is an irregularly shaped space
bounded by the sea wall and the renovated arches of Las Bóvedas (vaults), Spanish dungeons
that also functioned as storehouses, prison cells and barracks for the fort that occupied the
plaza until the early twentieth century. They now contain a chic restaurant of the same name.
Formerly the Plaza de Armas, the city's main square, the space is dominated by a substan-
tial monument dedicated to the thousands of workers who died during the disastrous French
attempt to build the canal . The central obelisk (with a secret door leading to a maintenance
staircase behind one of the frieze panels) is topped by a proud Gallic cockerel and ringed by
busts of the key figures involved, including Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat who
first conceived of the canal yet whose ignorance and vanity were central to the project's ulti-
mate failure. Behind, vast marble tablets chronologically outline the bare bones of the dream
to build a transisthmian waterway.
The Neoclassical French Embassy overlooks the square from the north, fronted by a huge
statue of former Panamanian president Pablo Arosemena. The large gleaming white building
to the east is home to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INAC, the National Institute of
Culture), the body responsible for maintaining the country's museums. It was spruced up for
the James Bond film Quantum of Solace , in which it featured as a Bolivian hotel. Adjacent is
the intimate Teatro Anita Villalaz .
Iglesia y Convento de Santo Domingo
Av “A” at C 3 • Closed for restoration at the time of writing
At the ruined Iglesia y Convento de Santo Domingo , restoration work is continuing apace.
Completed in 1678, it is most famous for the Arco Chato (flat arch) over its main entrance.
Only 10.6m high, but spanning some 15m with no keystone or external support, it was re-
putedly cited as evidence of Panama's seismic stability when the US Senate was debating
where to build a interoceanic canal. Ironically, the arch inexplicably collapsed just after the