Panama City - day 9 - Panama la Viejo

This morning we decided to go see Panama la Vieja ruins. This city was founded nearly 500 years ago in 1519. This was the original Panama City and was the first Spanish city on the pacific coast of the Americas. Then that rum guzzling pirate Henry Morgan laid waste to the city in 1671, so all that stands left today are stone ruins.

But before we go much further, let me back you up to the few moments before we headed out the door. We usually gander at the maps to make a plan of where we are planning to go. Today we needed 2 or 3 plans, as the route we had selected was a one-way street headed in the opposite direction. This caused us to make a detour which then put us into some uncharted territory. Thank goodness for Google Maps on the iPad and the GPS. Finally, we found the Panama de Vieja ruins, and had a nice time walking around the grounds.

What a day.

Then we headed off to Casco Viejo. This is the area where the survivors of Panama de Vieja moved to after their city was destroyed. Casco Viejo is an adventure all in itself. Narrow streets, hundreds of people walking around, and thousands of vehicles trying to navigate the streets. After finding a local restaurant and having a couple of cervazas and a snack of shrimp with cilantro sauce, we browsed the local artistas booths and bought a few more trinkets.

We tried to find a marina that was supposed to have a ferry leaving from it over to the Isla Perlas. This marina was supposed to be near the Trump tower, which we eventually found, but no marina. So we left and went to another gigantic mall on Av Balboa that had a Hard Rock Cafe in it. After devouring a $17 hamburger, we eventually called it a day, and blended in with the other 43 million vehicles in the streets of Panama and went back to the apartment.