VISIT THE CITY AND THE CANAL

Panama City features the friendliness of its people, the beauty of its structures and the its modern streets. For the visitor there's nothing better to do than to venture out into the city, and a visit to the Panama Canal locks is a must.

A) CITY:

Historians assure us that Panama is three cities in one, Panama La Vieja or Old Panama, Colonial Panama and Modern Panama.

In Panama La Vieja, you will enjoy the beauty that was the cathedral, and the vestiges of what was the bastion founded on August 15, 1519 by Pedrarias Dávila. In its time this was considered the Queen of the Pacific for being the obligatory stop-over for the great treasures and cargoes coming from the Americas, riches that the pirates and corsairs coveted.

Continuing with your tour, you'll venture into Colonial Panama, where you can visit the San Jose Church. This has a place in the history books due to its gold altar, which was painted black by priests during the destruction of Panama La Vieja in 1671 to avoid its theft by the pirate Henry Morgan. Two years after that devastation, a wall went up to prevent pirate attacks and that part of the city that was built within those fortifications became known as the city's Casco Viejo (Old Shell), or Colonial Panama. That area features three building styles, Spanish, French and Italian, which combine in an impressive architectural heritage. Here the visitor will stroll by the National Theater, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Plaza de Francia and Las Bovedas, the dungeons where 17th-century slaves were tortured.

In Modern Panama, you'll find a cosmopolitan city, comparable to the world's other great cities with it's skyscrapers, it's pretty residential neighborhoods and its green corridors. What's more, you can make an unimaginable variety of purchases at shopping centers, stores and establishments that offer just about everything.

B) PANAMA CANAL:

The breadth of this experience, unique in the world, gives you the chance to appreciate the breakwalls, the lake, the locks, and the Gatun Dam, the latter near the Caribbean entrance with an impressive view of the Chagres River. Considered one of the world's great engineering marvels of all time, its key components are the locks system and three artificial lakes that are replenished thanks to the heavy rainy season that last six to eight months per year.

During this unforgettable passage you will be able to see the Miraflores Lake, the locks and the Canal Administration Building, which is also famous fun its murals and interior patio. At the Miraflores Lock's Observation Deck, you'll receive bilingual information about how the canal functions, visit a theater that shows films about the waterway, and see an amazing working model of the Panama Canal.

DURATION: 3 Hrs