Streets squares and districts to visit Ciudad De Panamá

The former colonial Place d'Armes was redeveloped in 1922 as a tribute to the unsuccessful French attempt to break through the isthmus. At the far end of the square, facing the sea, stands an obelisk atop which a proud Gallic cockerel looks out towards the canal and France! Its base is surrounded by busts of figures who played a major role in "el esfuerzo francés " ("the French effort", as the Panamanians refer to the French canal project): Ferdinand de Lesseps and engineers Armand Reclus, Lucien Napoléon Bonaparte-Wyse, Léon Boyer and Panamanian Pedro Sosa (when Panama still belonged to Colombia). Behind them, in a semi-circular gallery with arcades, is the story of the canal told by Octavio Méndez Pereira. A plaque also pays tribute to Cuban physician Carlos Juan Finlay, who identified the mosquito responsible for transmitting yellow fever and advocated mosquito population control as an effective way of combating the disease. Just before the staircase is the place where Victoriano Lorenzo, the indigenous hero of the Thousand Days War, was shot in 1903, and the French Embassy, which has the privilege of being housed in a handsome early ^20th-century house. Next door, the ^18th-century Las Bóvedas ("the vaults") were once used as prison cells. Sculptures depict old trades, one of them María Ossa de Amador, who made the first Panamanian flag.

This long jetty of 6 km, which joins the islands of Naos, Perico and Flamenco to the mainland at the entrance of the canal, was built with the earth and rocks excavated from the Gaillard channel (1.25 billion cubic meters). The pier is intended to protect the entrance of the channel from sediments displaced by the currents. Originally, it also had a defensive function in case of an attack on the canal (Isla Flamenco hosted an American military base).

Long before the construction of the pier, during the colonial period, Perico Island welcomed ships from South America in its deep water port. Men, goods, gold and silver were unloaded and taken to the city in small boats. Today, it is the cruise ships that stop here.

The Causeway has been a tourist and leisure destination for Panamanian families since its retrocession to Panama in the late 1990s. There are many restaurants and shopping malls, more popular on the Brisas de Amador side than on the Flamenco marina where the local jet set meets. Panamanians love to walk around and have a drink while admiring the Bridge of the Americas, the canal or the lights of the city. It's very crowded on weekends but quieter during the week. The Biodiversity Museum by architect Franck Gehry marks the entrance to the Causeway, but also the long bicycle path that welcomes runners, rollerbladers and bicycles, which can be rented on site.

The square was created after the fire of 1756. In its center, several statues pay homage to Simón Bolívar, hero of the independence of the American colonies. They were erected on the occasion of the centennial of the Pan-American Congress of 1826, organized by El Libertador in an attempt to form a confederation of peoples freed from Spain and thus consolidate independence. The square is quiet and offers beautiful views of the facade of the old brick-colored Colombia Hotel built in 1937, the neoclassical church and some houses dating from 1880.