Casco Viejo, roughly translated to “The Old Helmet,” is the oldest city in the Pacific Coast and a World Heritage Site that takes its visitors in a journey through the ages lived in the Republic of Panama. Casco Viejo, as far as real estate and geography is concerned was christened with the name of San Felipe, but colloquially the area has always been known as Casco Viejo or Casco Antiguo, pointing out how the area used to be one of the most commercially important areas in Panama. Even though that’s not necessarily the case today, Casco Viejo has become a very popular tourist attraction due to its colorful façade and irresistible allure.

The architecture that you will find upon visiting the Casco Viejo area of Panama City is a combination of the Spanish conquistadors that discovered the region half a millennia ago and made of Panama one of the main destinations for commerce at the time, as well as French Colonial aesthetic proprietary of the time when France attempted to build the Panama Canal. Nowadays, Casco Viejo is an attractive amalgam of all of these European influences, from the buildings to the streets and everything in between. Even though the area and its beautiful architecture had been neglected for many years, especially during the dictatorship years and the subsequent fallout of the U.S. Army-led “Just Cause” operation to overthrow General Manuel Antonio Noriega in December of 1989, Casco Viejo has been the focal point of a restoration effort initiated by the Panama City Mayor’s office.

The initiative brought forth by the Panama City Mayor’s Office has made of Casco Viejo one of the benchmarks of the country’s tourism effort, an important stop for any visitor that wants to see the real beauty of Panama. Because of the recent focus in tourism the area has garnered, security is much better now than it used to be in years past; back in the day, walking the streets of San Felipe were a dangerous proposition, native or not. Today, even though areas surrounding Casco Viejo are still somewhat nerve-racking, the area of San Felipe itself is very nice and tourist-friendly. Of course, because city planning was never a forte for Panama City, it is very easy to lose oneself while walking around San Felipe. The restoration efforts keep marching on to revamp all of the buildings of the area, with some of them over 100 years old. The process has been long and arduous, in part because of the delicate process that entails restoring some of these buildings and in part because some residents of the area refuse to leave their homes in order for the restoration effort to do its job. This is the case even though many of the buildings these people live in can be considered hazardous since every other month or so there’s always a news bit about how someone’s balcony fell off the building because the wood it was built with is 50-years old and was never tended to.

Casco Viejo is located right on the shore to the Pacific Ocean, and because of that you will find it easy to fathom that Panama City’s international Seafood Market is located in the area. Many independent fishermen dock in the waters surrounding Casco Viejo and sell their goods in the market every day from early on in the morning. Panama City’s own Chinatown is located in the area of San Felipe as well, with a large concentration of the city’s Asian community taking residence and having shops there. There are many high-end restaurants, jazz clubs and open-air cafes open all day and until late at night. The Panama City Mayor’s Office and the President’s Palace are also located in San Felipe, both beautiful buildings that showcase the European feel of Casco Viejo’s architecture, and also one of the reasons why there’s such high security around the area with policemen virtually on every other corner. Other tourist attractions are the National Theater, an absolutely stunning theater that was recently restored and is now better than ever, the Panama Canal Museum where tourists and Panamanians alike can learn about the long history of Panama and the Panama Canal throughout its lifetime, and the Góngora House, the oldest building in the country(over 200 years old!). Other places that should be visited while in Casco Viejo include the France Plaza or Plaza de Francia, a monument to the French Panama Canal construction effort, The Church of San Francisco or La Iglesia de San Francisco, Colonial Hotel, the Bolivar School and the many plazas that are peppered throughout San Felipe such as the Metropolitan Cathedral, where the Panamanian people gathered on November 3^rd, 1903 to officially declare their independence from the Republic of Colombia.

Casco Viejo is an integral part of the Panamanian tourist experience, and as such should be visited by anyone who wants to take a look at Panama’s past without having to step into a time machine. With a brimming night life and plenty of bilingual staff in the areas many restaurants, bars, shops and the like, you’re bound to feel right at home.

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Filed under: History on March 10th, 2008