2019-06-14 Central Hotel Panama, Panama City, Panama
Today we have a free day without any organised toursWe decide to set off on foot and do a little more exploring around the areaLooking towards the Palace of the Herons which is a 17th Century building which houses the offices and residence of the President We decide to buy some tickets on the Hop On Hop Off Bus which took us to other parts of Panama City that we had not seen and also some that we had seen too!!It was fabulous to get some close up views of the amazing modern buildings of Panama City
We pass a substantial statue of the early 16th century Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador called Vasco Nunez de BalboaWe have found that the buses are always a good way to get around most large citiesNot only do we see amazing building and houses we also see where the majority of local people live too A popular means of transport in Panama City are the large brightly painted buses for the locals although some tourists use them too We pass a very large statue of Arnulfo Arias Madrid (15 August 1901 – 10 August 1988) who was a politician from Panama, a doctor, and a writer who served as the President of Panama from 1940 to 1941, again from 1949 to 1951, and finally for eleven days in October 1968. Looking towards the original main square of the old town. Today it is called the French Plaza dedicated to France’s role in building the Panama Canal The bus circuit took us out to the Miraflores LocksWe pass one of the dams built near the canalAgain we pass the fabulous BiomuseumWe head out on the Amador Causeway Panama Bay is a popular anchorage Returning along the Amador Causeway we look across to the commercial district of Panama CityLooking towards the fish marketsWe disembark the bus near the fish markets as we have not as yet visited themArriving at Mercado de Mariscos we were amazed at all the fresh local seafood available here at reasonable pricesThe lobsters and crabs looked fantasticNo shortage of fish of all sizesThese friendly guys were proud to show off their large prawns Beside the fish market is a large covered open ended hall called Mercado De Marisco Cinta Costera ….. we decided to have a substantial late lunch here and skip dinnerThere are numerous vendors all trying to entice you to their tables …. we chose Ceviches Archi, as the food coming from the kitchen looked great and the guys were pleasant and not too pushyWe ordered quite a few dishes to share, including prawns, fish and lobster ……… all were freshly cooked and delicious Our friendly hosts ….. who also made good cocktails!!Friendly girls from the opposition ……… next time we will try food from their menus!!! After our late lunch we head back on foot to Casco Antiguo where our hotel is locatedAs we arrived back to the hotel the clouds were getting darker and we felt the first drops of rain
Fortunately we had a late lunch/early dinner so we didn’t need to leave the hotel in the evening
In the evening we enjoyed having a couple of drinks in the lovely foyer of our hotel and us the opportunity to use the internet which was not great in the rooms!!
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