Historic Casco Viejo

Casco Viejo (Old Town), Panama is the historic district of Panama City. In 1997 UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site. And rightly so as Casco Viejo is rich with history.

If you are not familiar with Panama, you may want to check out the Panama Tourist Map. It provides a quick overview of the country and points out many of the key sights. You will also find Pananainfo.com very useful. You can find an excellent map of Casco Viejo here.

In 1671, the pirate Henry Morgan attacked and destroyed what was then known as Panama Viejo. The resident moved "the city" to what is now known as Casco Viejo in the hopes of this being a safer location and one that would be easier to defined against future attacks.

We visited Casco Viejo in February 2012. We arrived late on Sunday evening and the streets were largely deserted. Many of the buildings we saw appeared to be very old, abandoned and falling apart. Initially, we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into!! The next morning as wondered the city we discovered that while many of the buildings are indeed old, abandoned and falling apart there is also a massive renovation effort underway in Casco Viejo.

The building across the street from our Casco Viejo apartment looked abandoned at night, but during there there is a small business selling Panama hats. 

On the surface, Casco Viejo can look like a bit rough and a little scary, but after two days we found ourselves quite comfortable in the area and found the people all very friendly and welcoming. When visiting, be sure to enjoy one of the many recommended walking tours to fully experience Casco Viejo. 

Seeing "new" Panama City through the old.

One of Casco Viejo's old buildings that are being reclaimed.

While many sell their crafts in public places such as the plazas, at no time was anyone "in our face" trying to push their crafts. 

Panama hats for sale a the Plaza Independencia
(Independence Plaza, also called Cathedral Plaza).

Molas handcrafted by the Kuna Indian Tribe.

While neither us are really history buffs, we did find the Casco Viejo literally packed with history everywhere you turn. There are many plazas, sculptures, museums and other historical sites scattered through out this relatively small area.

Teatro Nacional (National Theatre).

Catedral de Panamá en la Plaza Independencia
(Cathedral of Panama on the Independence Plaza, also called Cathedral Plaza).

The Golden Alter at Iglesia San Jose (San Jose Church) is a spectacular site to see.

The French Plaza is dedicated to the French effort to build the Panama Canal.

Central Casco Viejo viewed from the French Plaza.

On the west side and across the bay from central Casco Viejo you will find Mercado de Mariscos (Seafood Market). It is an amazing market with many varieties of fresh seafood. 

The fish are constantly being fileted.

Many varieties of fish at Mercade de Mariscos.

Fisherman making their delivers to the Mercade de Mariscos.

Rather than stay in a hotel in Casco Viejo (not that there were many to choose from) we found the Los Cuatro Tulipanes apartments which provided a bit more of feel for what it might be like to actually live there…though we were still clearly tourists. We very much enjoyed both the apartment and the people who managed the property. Right next to the apartments was the wonderful little Grandclement Ice Cream Shop that served Gelato ice cream in many very unusual flavors. I think we visited it 3 times in two days! 

The delicious Grandclement Ice Cream Shop.

Tne Puente de las Américas (Bridge of the Americas) over the Panama Canal viewed at sunset from the French Plaza.

While there is much to see and do in Casco Viejo, the real highlight is simply getting to know your way around the area and feeling comfortable in it. After a couple of days you will begin to recognize other tourists as well as residents from the local business. 

In the next and final post in this series on Panama we will explore the Pedasi area of of the beautiful Azuero Peninsula.