Tripatini contributor Keith Kellett writes:

"There are really three Panamas: the concrete canyons we saw on the way in, and didn't like very much. We had to be driven through this, though, to get to Panamá Viejo (above), the original city founded by pioneering Spanish settlers in1519.  Being on the west coast of Central America, they unfortunately thought themselves safe from attack. So they didn't think to build defensive walls, and thus were vulnerable to attack by pirates, culminating in the burning down of the city 1671 by the privateer Henry Morgan, leading the surviving citizens to build elsewhere. So all that remains are ruins (which are by the way a UNESCO World Heritage Site). But a train conveys visitors to a museum on the site, which, with models, artefacts and paintings explains about the site very well."

Read more in his post Impressions of Panama City and the Canal.

Keith Kellett