Panama City - photos 1

Panama City:

From San Blas Islands, we reached Panama City after a 3hrs journey in a jeep where the guys in the back where packed like sardines! At this point, everybody dispersed to different hostels. So we said goodbye to the lads with who we had good time on the boat. We arrived during the carnival period and it took us 50 min to go from the new town to the old town or "Casco Viejo" where we wanted to stay.

Panama City has 2 faces: the new town is very "Miami" type with its skyscrapers, posh hotels and boutiques de luxe; the old town is full of colonial buildings where some houses were abandoned for so long that just the walls are stayed up. A revitalisation process is on-going today. The city was founded in 1519 by De Avila but was destroyed in 1671 after an attack of the Welsh pirate Henry Morgan. Some ruins are still visible in Panama El Viejo. The city was rebuilt 5 miles away and this location is known as Casco Viejo. This part of Panama City was classified World Heritage Site in 2001. The construction of the Canal was first attempted by the French in 1880 but failed (21900 workers died) then the second attempt under US leadership was more successful and the Canal was open in 1914.

- View of Casco Viejo from Cerro Ancon, a small mount north of the district. In the background centre, we can see the towers of the Metropolitan Cathedral. On the right, it is the entrance to the Canal,
- View of the "New town" or "El Cangrero" from Cerro Ancon, the modern banking district. Does that not remember you Miami?
- View of the Canal from Cerro Ancon,
- The Metropolitan Cathedral built in 1674,
- One of the churches in ruins which was being renovated. Lots of buildings were in the same state and lots of renovation works were on-going in Casco Viejo.