Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Panama City Highlights
Explore history-filled
Casco Viejo
(
Click here
) , a rapidly gentrifying neighbor-
hood of crumbling colonials, soaring churches and grand plazas
Reconnect with the past at the
Panamá Viejo ruins
(
Click here
), the original
Panama City circa 1519
Hike through
Parque Natural Metropolitano
(
Click here
), 265 hectares of rain-
forest just 10 minutes from downtown
Feast on new tropical fusion cuisine at any of the capital's fine assortment of
res-
taurants
(
Click here
)
Party like a rock star on
Calle Uruguay
(
Click here
) , home to the city's most
sophisticated nightlife
Treat your hangover pedaling along the Cinta Costera to
Mercado de Mariscos
(
Click here
) for cheap
ceviche
(marinated seafood) and the freshest fish around
History
Panama City was founded in 1519 by the Spanish governor Pedro Arias de Ávila
(Pedrarias), not long after Balboa first saw the Pacific. Although the Spanish settlement
quickly became an important center of government and church authority, the city was
ransacked and destroyed in 1671 by the English pirate Captian Henry Morgan, leaving
only the stone ruins of Panamá Viejo.
Three years later, the city was reestablished about 8km to the southwest in the area
now known as Casco Viejo. Although the peninsular location was well defended, the
