Beyond the fairways
In 1671 a pirate burned this city down. Two years later it opened again, eight kilometres west.
Henry Morgan left nothing of the original Panama standing. The Spanish rebuilt on a rocky peninsula that was easier to defend, and gave it the same name.
That second city is Casco Viejo. UNESCO World Heritage since 1997, and the reason the evenings on this trip do not happen in a hotel lobby.
Cobbled streets, a cathedral, rooftop bars. And straight across the bay, forty floors of glass.
Two Panamas in the same photograph. That is the picture that travels home from this trip, not the one of the eighteenth green.
1519
Panama is founded on the Pacific, the first European city on this coast of the Americas.
1671
Henry Morgan sacks and burns it. The site is abandoned and never rebuilt.
1673
The city reopens eight kilometres west, on ground easier to defend. Today it is Casco Viejo.
1997
UNESCO lists both sites. The ruins and the old town can be walked the same afternoon.
Casco Viejo is on the companion programme as a guided walk, and within reach of the whole group on the city nights.
