A day in Panama City— brand-new skyscrapers, and a colonial quarter

Nov. 13, 2007, 12:56PM
By ARTHUR FROMMER King Features

Still reeling from the fact that our Panama City hotel had a full-scale casino of roulette wheels, blackjack dealers, craps tables and slots (nothing had prepared us for Panama's Las Vegas-style gambling), Roberta and I headed for our first morning in town to the city's outstanding quarter of colonial gems, the Casco Viejo district of 17th-century Spanish charm.

Preserved as the conquistadors left it, Casco Viejo vies with Old Havana and Old San Juan in authenticity — but it is beginning to leave the others behind with the restored beauty of its courtyards, and the sparkling tiles and marble that line many of the cafes, restaurants and shops that occupy these historic structures. Just as Panama City's downtown across the bay is transforming itself into a totally unexpected, skyscraper-packed Hong Kong, Casco Viejo is in the process of being restored into the most tastefully attractive area of the city.

Here the district is studded with fun gift shops (potholders and eyeglass containers in the strongly colorful designs — "molas" — of Panama's indigenous Indians, dolls in the ruffled long skirts of Panama's 19th-century women, feather-light Panama hats), the cafes and restaurants are gracious and courtly, the sight of the city's skyline across the water is stunning, the Presidential Palace (currently housing the Honorable Martin Torrijos) is the center of power and is surrounded by military — but friendly — guards, and the chief sightseeing attraction is the Museo del Canal Interoceanico (the museum that relates the history of the Panama Canal — although its inscriptions are in Spanish only, its many visual aids and movies are understood easily). The Canal museum is an indispensable stop, a necessary prelude to your visit to the Miraflores Locks later in the day.

After a $30 lunch for the two of us (including appetizers, main course, two Panama beers and dessert) at the elegant Mostaza Restaurant, we took a cab to the Miraflores Visitors' Center on the outskirts of town for a look at the actual workings of the canal. As we stood on a high outdoor balcony overlooking the Miraflores Locks, an announcer speaking over a loudspeaker in Spanish, English and French explained the intricate workings that lifts these giant vessels to different levels of the artificial waterway. Asian sailors stood on the deck of one enormous container ship, looking up at us tourists as we gazed at them and their ship.

From Miraflores, we visited not one but two successive marketplaces of Panama City, and bought gifts for relatives back home at prices that were a quarter the levels charged in the lobby gift shop of our hotel. The tourism of Panama is centered not simply in Panama City, but to a far greater extent in the picture-perfect, uncrowded beaches (with several large resorts) just outside Panama City, and in the renowned San Blas Islands, Pearl Islands and Bocas del Toro offshore islands, as well as on the Gulf of Chiriqui. It's found in the mountain stretches of Boquete, housing rain forests, coffee plantations, and Embera and Kuna Indians — a superb setting for tourism.

Just as Americans began flocking to Costa Rica a decade ago, they're now going to what might become the new hot spot of Central America, Panama. You should consider a trip.