World Cruise Day 7/152 - Atlantic? Pacific? Yeah - been to both - today. Panama!

Cruise day: 7/152
Ports: 3
Ports days: 3
Sea days: 4
Countries: 3
Continents: 1

After docking last night in Colon, today, we were able to take excursions in Panama.  We opted for the included excursion. That was a bus trip from Colon, where we are docked, to Panama City, and back.  Interestingly, this mimics what we'll do tomorrow, except we were on a bus on roads, and tomorrow. we'll be on the ship and in the canal.

After you get out of the horrific traffic of Colon, it only takes between 60 and 90 minutes to travel from Colon to Panama City.  That also means we traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and back, in much less than a day.  It's not that remarkable when you realize that the two cities are about 45 miles apart.

We made a "comfort" stop in Isla Flamenco, near Panama City.

This is where the iconic "PANAMA" letters are located.  Of course, we have to get a photo.

Then, we continued to Panama City.  The bus tour took us around the city but afforded us very little opportunity to document our adventure with any usable photos.  I did snap a few quick photos through the bus window.

There are several buildings with interesting architecture.  The most interesting is the F & F Tower.  Locals call it "The Screw".

We continued on to the historic district of old Panama City.  From there, you can get a good view of the newer metropolitan area.

We got off the bus for a walking tour of the old town area.  This is where the presidential palace is located.

The roads in this area are narrow - like crazy-narrow.

Of course, that doesn't prevent people from walking in the street.  We saw a tanker truck navigating these streets.  It was nuts.

We saw the only equestrian-based statue in Panama, honoring General Thomas Herrera in a plaza named in his honor.

Next up was St. Joseph Church.

The alter was incredibly ornate and covered in gold.

In a separate room, they had the entire story of Christ depicted in a series of models.  It was incredibly detailed.

They also had statues of the twelve disciples but were missing Judas.

In another building, we saw a structure called a flat arch.

This arch was built with no internet structure and stood for years - a testament to Panama's geologic stability. 

In 2003, however, during the centennial celebration of Panama's separation from Colombia, the level of the celebration generated enough vibration to cause the arch to collapse.  It was subsequently rebuilt and remains there today.

The tour ended at Independence Square.  Here, we saw an interesting mix of architectural styles, including the French-influenced Museum of Panama.

Right next to that is the municipal building with its distinctly Italian design.

Centered over the door is the crest of Panama City.

Rounding out Independence Square is the Panama Metropolitan Cathedral.

If you look closely in Mary's hands, you can see a silver rose.  When the Pope visited Panama City, he blessed this rose as more people wanted to see him than there was time.  By blessing this rose, he left behind a papal-blessed artifact that the faithful could visit.

After some free time to stroll around, and a cloudburst, we boarded the bus for the return trip to Colon.

One thing that Panama is known for is horrific traffic and this trip did not disappoint.  In Colon, the bus sat several times, waiting for bumper-to-bumper traffic to allow it to proceed.  The number of cars here is unbelievable.  It almost makes Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles look sane. We passed several intersections we can only describe as 4-way-go intersections.

We departed Colon at 7 PM and will head out and get in line for our full transit of the Panama canal tomorrow.  Rumor has it that we will be entering the canal perhaps as early as 7:30 AM.  No sleeping in tomorrow. We will also set our clocks back an hour tomorrow night, as we are moving west, so the new year could potentially be celebrated twice!