Casco Viejo

The “Old Part,” also known as Casco Antiguo or the San Felipe district, is the most colorful part of Panama City. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1997. It’s a city within the city, and one from a different age. It’s a great place for a walking tour. You can wander down narrow brick streets, sip an espresso at an outdoor café, visit old churches, and gaze up at wrought-iron balconies spilling over with bright tropical plants. It has an unusual blend of architectural styles, most notably ornate Spanish- and French-influenced buildings.

Casco Viejo has always had a romantic look, but for decades the romance has been of the tropical-decadence, paint-peeling-from-rotting-walls variety. Now, though, it’s in the midst of a tasteful and large-scale restoration that’s giving the old buildings new luster and has turned the area into one of the city’s most fashionable destinations for a night out. Elegant bars, restaurants, and sidewalk cafés are opening. Amazingly, this is being done with careful attention to keeping the old charm of the place alive. In some places the district now resembles the French Quarter of New Orleans. It also looks very much like a smaller Cartagena. Unfortunately, the renovation is squeezing out the poorer residents who’ve lived here for ages.

Please note: Even with the makeover, Casco Viejo is not the safest part of Panama City. There’s no reason to be overly concerned, but use common sense. I cringe when I see obvious tourists wandering around here. If you’re pale and gringo, you’re going to stand out, but try to look as though you’re a resident foreigner. Don’t wear shorts, fanny packs, Hawaiian shirts, or the like, and be discreet with the cameras and maps. Don’t come dripping jewelry and dressed in expensive clothes. Don’t wander around at night, and be cautious on deserted side streets or when venturing beyond the major activity hubs (Plaza Bolívar, Plaza de la Independencia, and Plaza de Francia). In particular, at night avoid the block of Calle 4 between Avenida Central and Avenida B, as well as the area around Parque Herrera. The decay and the renovation work present their own hazards: Watch out for foot-eating potholes, missing drain covers, and so on.

However, the neighborhood is well patrolled by the policía de turismo (tourism police), who cruise around on bicycles and are easy to spot in their short-pants uniforms. They’ve been trained specifically to serve tourists, and they’re doing an impressive job. It’s not unusual for them to greet foreign tourists with a handshake and a smile and offer them an insider’s tour of the area or help with whatever they need. Visitors have reported many pleasant encounters with them. Don’t hesitate to ask them for help or directions. Their office is next to Manolo Caracol and across the street from the Ministerio de Gobierno y Justicia (Avenida Central between Calle 2 Oeste and Calle 3 Este, tel. 211-2410 or 211-1929).

There’s also a heavy police presence around the presidential palace, but those guys tend to be more stern and no-nonsense. Their main job is to protect the president, not help tourists.

A good way to explore the area is to come with a knowledgeable guide or taxi driver who can drop you in different areas to explore on foot. Safety aside, you’ll probably save time this way, as the streets are confusing and it’s easy to get lost. Do major exploring only during the daytime; those who come at night should taxi in and out to specific destinations. Restaurant and bar owners can call a cab for the trip back if visitors have trouble finding one.

Advice and guides are available at the new Tourism and Internet Café (Avenida Central between Calle 8 Este and Calle 9 Este, tel. 228-9903, tel./fax 228-7006, tourisminfo@cwpanama.net, 7 a.m.–10 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 6 a.m.–10 p.m. Sun.), on the ground floor of the Lion House hostel. The place is run by Rich Cahill, a top Darién guide, and his wife, Gaby. They’re friendly, helpful people. They can arrange for local guides to give a three-hour walking tour of the neighborhood ($5–10 per person, depending on group size). The guides have lived in Casco Viejo all their lives and really know the ins and outs of the place. A map painted on the wall highlights important sights in the district. There’s also an Internet café ($.50 an hour), a place to make international calls ($.10 a minute to the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom), fax and copying services, and a separate video-game center for kids. English and Spanish are spoken.

Below are the main points of interest in the neighborhood, organized as a walking tour that starts in the heart of the heart of the district and circles counterclockwise, finally ending up back at the starting point. This is not the only way to tour the area, of course, and not everyone will want to be this thorough. Highlights of the area include the Iglesia de San José (also called the Church of the Golden Altar), Plaza de la Independencia, Plaza de Francia, Plaza Bolívar, the area around the Palacio de las Garzas, and (if it’s ever rebuilt) the Arco Chato, also known as the Flat Arch.

In some respects Sunday is a good day for a walking tour. For one thing, it’s the likeliest time to find the churches open and in use. However, it’s practically impossible to find a place to eat or drink on Sunday, or even visit many museums—just about everything is closed. Friday and Saturday nights are the best bet for dining and partying. Getting a look inside historic buildings and museums is easiest during the week, especially since some of these house government offices that are open only during normal business hours. Churches open and close rather erratically.

In the center of Casco Viejo is the Plaza de la Independencia, where Panama declared its independence from Colombia in 1903. Construction began on the cathedral here, the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, in 1688, but it took more than 100 years to complete. It has an attractive marble altar and a few well-crafted stained-glass windows, though otherwise the interior is rather plain. The towers are inlaid with mother of pearl from the Perlas Islands. The bones of a saint, Santo Aurelio, are contained in a reliquary hidden behind a painting of Jesus near the front of the church, on the left as one faces the altar. Visitors have been known to nudge the painting aside to take a peek when no one’s looking.

The Museo del Canal Interoceánico (Avenida Central between Calle 5 and Calle 6, tel. 211-1995 or 211-1649, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Tues.–Sun., closed Mon., $2 for adults, $.75 for students), is on the left as one faces the cathedral. Dedicated to the history of the Panama Canal, it’s housed in what was once the headquarters of the French canal-building effort. The Museo de la Historia de Panamá (Avenida Central between Calle 7 and Calle 8, tel. 228-6231, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Mon.–Fri.), in the building next door, is a small museum containing artifacts from Panama’s history as a republic. It’s in the Palacio Municipal, a neoclassical building from 1910 that is now home to government offices.

Head up Avenida Central past the museums and then past the cathedral to Calle 9. The church here, with the crumbling brown facade and white-washed sides, is Iglesia de la Merced, which was built in the 17th century from rubble salvaged from the ruins of Panamá la Vieja. The neoclassical building next to it, the Casa de la Municipalidad, is a former mansion now used by the city government.

Head west down Calle 9 past the little park, Parque Herrera, which was dedicated in 1976. The statue of the man on horseback is General Tomás Herrera, an early hero of Panama’s complex independence movements.

Turn left onto Avenida A. On the left is the Iglesia de San José (Avenida A between Calle 8 and Calle 9, 7 a.m.–noon and 2–8 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 5 a.m.–noon and 5–8 p.m. Sun.). The church’s massive golden altar (altar de oro) is a prime tourist attraction. Legend has it that the altar was saved from the rapacious Welsh pirate Henry Morgan during the sacking of the original Panama City when a quick-thinking priest had it painted black, hiding its true value.

Across Avenida A from the church is La Casa de la Pollera (Avenue A and Calle 8, tel. 228-8671, home tel. 223-5375—ask for Evelina de Herran, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat.), which sells both machine-made and (very expensive) hand-embroidered polleras, Panama’s stunning national dress.

Continue down Avenida A. On the left near the corner of Calle 3 are the ruins of the Iglesia de Santo Domingo. The original church was built in the 17th century, but it burned twice and was not rebuilt after the fire of 1756. But it remains famous for one thing that survived, seemingly miraculously: the nearly flat arch (Arco Chato). Since it was built without a keystone and had almost no curve to it, it should have been a very precarious structure, yet it remained intact even as everything around it fell into ruins. One of the reasons a transoceanic canal was built in Panama is that engineers concluded from the intact arch that Panama was not subject to the kinds of devastating earthquakes that afflict its Central American neighbors.

But on the evening of November 7, 2003, just four days after Panama celebrated its first centennial as a country, the arch finally collapsed into rubble. Predictably, attempts to find someone to blame for its neglect—it had been left exposed to the sun, rain, and rumbling traffic of Panama for ages—began almost before the dust settled. So did vows to restore it. It may possibly be rebuilt by the time you read this, though of course its main appeal, its gravity-defying properties through the centuries, can never be restored.

Next to these ruins is the Museo de Arte Religioso Colonial (Avenida A and Calle 3, tel. 228-2897, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Tues.–Sat., closed Sun. and Mon., $.75 adults, $.25 students), a little museum with miscellaneous religious artifacts from the early Spanish era. It’s worth a quick visit.

Continue two more blocks to Calle 1 and make a right. This strip of road has become a popular nighttime destination, with trendy restaurants, nightclubs, and bars including the Blue Room, 844, and Macarena. The road ends at the Plaza de Francia (French Plaza), which has seen a great deal of history and was among the first parts of Casco Viejo to be renovated, back in 1982.
  The obelisk and the marble plaques along the wall commemorate the failed French effort to build a sea-level canal in Panama. The area housed a fort until the beginning of the 20th century, and the bóvedas (vaults) in the seawall were used through the years as storehouses, barracks, offices, and jails. You’ll still hear gruesome stories about dungeons in the seawall, where prisoners were left at low tide to drown when the tide rose. Whether this actually happened is still a subject of lively debate among amateur historians. True or not, what you will find there now is one of Panama’s more colorful restaurants, Restaurante Las Bóvedas. Also in the plaza are the French Embassy, the headquarters of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INAC, the National Institute of Culture) in what had been Panama’s supreme court building, and a small theater, Teatro Anita Villalaz. Visitors are not allowed into the grand old building that houses INAC, but it’s worth peeking into from the top of the steps. Next to the restaurant there is now an art gallery (tel. 211-4034, 8 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Mon.–Fri., closed Sat. and Sun.) run by INAC that displays works by Panamanian and other Latin American artists.

Walk up the staircase that leads to the top of the vaults. This is part of the old seawall that protected the city from the Pacific Ocean’s dramatic tides. There’s a good view of the Panama City skyline, the Bridge of the Americas, and the Bay of Panama, and the breeze is great on a hot day. The walkway, Paseo General Esteban Huertas, is shaded in part by a bougainvillea-covered trellis and is a popular spot with smooching lovers. Continue to the end of the walkway and come down on Avenida Central. Turn right at the first corner and walk a block. Along the way notice the building on the waterfront to the right. By the time you visit, this may be the site of a large hotel being planned for the area. But it’s on the site of what was once the officers’ club of the Panamanian Defense Forces; it was largely destroyed during the 1989 U.S. invasion.

Turn left onto Avenida B. The building to the left, between Calle 3 and Calle 4, is the intimate Teatro Nacional, or national theater, where classical concerts and other posh events are held. It was built in 1908 on the site of an 18th-century monastery. It’s housed in the same building as the Ministerio de Gobierno y Justicia (Ministry of Government and Justice), which has its entrance on Avenida Central, across the street from Manolo Caracol, a fun restaurant. Inaugurated on October 1, 1908, the neobaroque theater is worth a brief visit between concerts to get a glimpse of its Old World elegance. The first performance here was a production of the opera Aida, and for about 20 years the theater was a glamorous destination for the city’s elite. But after that it gradually deteriorated, and at one point was rented out as a movie house. A 1974 restoration brought it back to life until the rainy season of 2000 wrought serious damage. The ceiling is covered with faded but still colorful frescos of cavorting naked ladies, painted by Roberto Lewis, a well-known Panamanian artist. Leaks in the roof destroyed about a quarter of these frescos, and the roof partially collapsed. It was finally reopened in mid-2004. (A bit of local color: Old-timers remember the days before air-conditioning was installed, when performances were sometimes drowned out by the sound of traffic noise and heavy rains that wafted through the doors, which were opened to provide some circulation. Occasionally a bat would zoom into the gallery, adding a bit of unplanned excitement.)

Turn right on Calle 3. The elegant square is Plaza Bolívar. It’s been undergoing a charming restoration, and several cafés and restaurants have sprung up (and folded) here. It’s especially pleasant to hang out on the plaza in the evening, when tables are set up under the stars. It’s a good rest stop for a drink or a bite. The new Restaurante y Bar Candelero, on the north side of the plaza, was the best bet at the time of writing. Refresquería Chiringuito, on the west side, is a simple but clean hole-in-the-wall that offers daily lunch specials for less than $2. It’s open 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday–Saturday, closed Sunday.

The plaza was named for Simón Bolívar, a legendary figure who is considered the father of Latin America’s independence from Spain. In 1826 Bolívar called a congress here to discuss forming a union of Latin American states. Bolívar himself did not attend and the congress didn’t succeed, but the park and the statue of Bolívar commemorate the effort.

The congress itself was held in what is now a small museum called Salón Bolívar (Plaza Bolívar, tel. 228-9594, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Tues.–Sat., 1–5 p.m. Sun., $1 adults, $.25 students), attached to the massive Palacio Bolívar. The latter was built on the site of a Franciscan monastery that dates from the 18th century, but the current structure was built in the 1920s and was a school for many years. Now it’s home to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (foreign ministry). During regular business hours (about 8 a.m.–3 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Sat.) it’s possible, and well worthwhile, to explore the huge inner courtyard, which has been outfitted with a clear roof that’s out of keeping with the architecture but protects it from the elements. The courtyard is open to the surf in the back, where part of the original foundation can be seen. Be sure to notice the beautiful tilework, and the posh chandelier at the entrance.

Next door but still on the plaza is a church and former monastery, Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco de Asís. The church dates from the early days of Casco Viejo but was burned during two 18th-century fires, then restored in 1761 and again in 1998. Another church, Iglesia San Felipe de Neri, is a block away, on the corner of Avenida B and Calle 4. It dates from 1688 and, though it has been damaged by fires, it’s one of the oldest standing structures from the Spanish colonial days. It was being renovated when I last visited. It looked as if it were going to be quite lovely when finished.

Head back past Plaza Bolívar on Calle 4. Make a left at the waterfront. The presidential palace, the Palacio de las Garzas (Palace of the Herons), is on the left at Calle 5, overlooking Panama Bay. It’s an attractive place that houses the presidential office and residence. The president lives here, and visitors are not permitted. The place and the neighboring streets are surrounded by guards, who may ask for your passport but more likely will just wave you by. Be polite and deferential—they should let you walk by the palace. Walk slowly and take a quick peek inside at the courtyard, visible from the street, and try to spot the herons around the fountain.

Make a left at the next street, which is Calle 6 but goes by several other names just to make things confusing. Head straight for three blocks to Plaza de la Independencia, where this tour began.