Day 19 - Panama Old Town and Canal Visitor Centre

This morning we had a walking tour of the Old Town or Casco Vieja which is the original site of Panama City which was founded in 1519 by the Spanish.  Gold, stolen from other Spanish conquered South American countries (in particular Peru), was transported through Panama from the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea.  This area was almost completely destroyed when invaded by the pirate Sir Henry Morgan and his 1200 man army in 1671.  Some of the ruins can be seen today but much of the town has been redeveloped.  It is a UNESCO Heritage site so any redevelopment must be in the colonial style.

The Old Town is situated on a small peninsular.  We visited The Church of San Jose.  The exterior of this church is nothing spectacular but inside the altar is made with the original gold which wasnt plundered by the invaders as it had been covered with mud and black paint to cover up the gold. There was an enormous nativity scene in a side room which covers about 16 events from the early life of Jesus and was made with real attention to detail and to what the creators believe is how Israel was like at that time.  We then visited The Cathedral in Independance Square and then saw some of the plazas, including the French Plaza which is where the French Embassy is.  There is a monument with a cockerel on top to recognise the part France played in creating the Panama Canal.  They failed, as 20,000 of their workers were killed by malaria and yellow fever so the project was abandoned, but it was finished off by the USA who took a different approach.

 

Herrera Plaza

 

Gold Altar in San Jose Church

 

Nativity Scene in San Jose Church 

 

 

Outside of San Jose Church

 

Cathedral from Independance Plaza

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Alter with umbrella like structure in Spanish flag colours

 

Statue and stained glass window in Cathedral

 

The Cathedral organ.  It originates from Italy and is still played regularly

 

 

The Cathedral altar

 

 

Redeveloped buildings

 

Ruins next to the redevelopment.

 

Ruins of a tower

 

Tram lines left from the redevelopment but no trams run now

 

Independence Plaza 

 

Palacio Municipal (Town Hall)

 

More ruins

 

French Embassy

 

French Plaza

 

French monument

 

One of the beaches 

 

Another beach with view of Panama skyline 

 

Tri-coloured Heron

There are many little tourist markets where the Kuna indiginous people sell handmade crafts - or so we were told - much of it looked mass produced to me.

 

Small market run by the Kuna Indiginous people

 

 

Another market under an arch covered with Bougainvilla flowers

We had an early lunch and then we were taken back to the Miraflores Lock to see the Panama Canal from "the outside".

We first saw an excellent IMAX film in 3D which explained in detail how the canal was created from the very beginning.  On completion in 1914, the first ship to sail through had very little media coverage as it was the same day as WWI started.  It also showed the making of the new locks which were opened in 2016.  We didnt see these yesterday as they are only used for the much larger and wider vessels

 

American group with enormous bag of popcorn waiting to go into the theatre.

We avoided sitting near them

We then went to a viewing platform to watch a bulk carrier ship, The Ricarda, coming through the eastern lock.  There was also a chemical carrier coming through the western lock.  A little way from here we could see a much larger vessel, owned by Evergreen and probably similar to the one we saw yesterday, going through the new lock system.

 

The Ricarda being steered into the lock by the locomotives

 

 

The Ricarda in its final position in the lock before the back gates closed

 

The Ricarda at sea level ready to leave the lock when the gates open

 

The Ricarda leaving the lock, steered by the locomotives

 

The locomotives which steer the ship through the locks

The ship moves under its own power

 

The large structure behind the white building is an Evergreen Container

Ship going through the new locks towards the Pacific.

 

The locomotive getting ready for the next large ship to arrive with the 

Aquarius T chemical transporter in the western lock behing.

We came back to the hotel mid afternoon and did some packing ready for going home tomorrow.  We found most eating places are closed on a Monday so ended up with a Papa Johns pizza.  

We are leaving for the airport at 3pm tomorrow so have booked a tour to Monkey Island where hopefully we will see White Faced monkeys plus other wildlife.