In preparation for an upcoming visit to Panama City, Panama, we did a little background research.
Panama City, the capital city of Panama, is located at the Pacific Ocean entrance of the Panama Canal.
20 Fun Facts About Panama City, Panama
1. With a total metro population of 1,440,381, Panama City is the largest city and the capital of the Republic of Panama.
2. Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias de Avila, also known as Pedrarias Davila founded the city on August 15, 1519.
3. Panama City experienced rapid growth the starting point for Spanish expeditions to Peru.
4. As Spain explored and conquered the Inca Empire, Panama City was the transit point for gold and silver from the Americas to travel back to Spain.
5. In January of 1671, privateer Henry Morgan, along with a band of 1,400 men, attacked and looted Panama City. The city burned and was destroyed. Ruins of the old city remain today and are known as Panamí¡ la Vieja (Old Panama).
6. The distinctive golden altar at St. Joseph Church was one of the few items saved from Panama Viejo during the 1671 siege. It was buried in mud during the siege and then secretly transported to its present location.
7. Two years later in 1693 Panama City was formally reestablished on a peninsula 5 miles from the original settlement. This location is known as the Casco Viejo (Old Quarter) of Panama City.
8. In 1821 Panama broke with Spain and joined with Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela to form the Republic of Gran Colombia. When this republic dissolved in 1830, Panama remained part of Colombia.
9. With U.S. backing, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903. Panama signed a treaty with the U.S. allowing for canal construction, and giving the U.S. sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the structure (known as the Panama Canal Zone).
10. The Panama Canal was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914 with more than 75,000 workers. The canal allows ships to sail between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without having to go all the way around South American, cutting out 7,872 miles of travel on voyages between New York and San Francisco.
11. The Ancon cargo ship was the first vessel to transit the Canal on August 15, 1914.
12. Today, the Panama Canal generates one-third of Panama’s entire economy.
13. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the U.S. to Panama by the end of the century. The entire Panama Canal, the area supporting the Canal, and the remaining U.S. military bases were transferred to Panama by the end of 1999.
14. Panama City became an international banking center starting in the late 1970s, gaining undesirable attention as an international money-laundering center.
15. After nearly a year of tension between the United States and Panama, in 1989 President George H. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama to depose its leader, General Manuel Noriega, who was found to be involved in drug trafficking.
16. In October 2006, Panamanians approved an ambitious $5.3 billion plan to expand the Canal. The Panama Canal Expansion will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal through a new set of locks, doubling the waterway’s capacity. The Expansion will double the Canal’s capacity and Post-Panamax vessels will be able to transit through the Canal.
17. Panama City has a tropical climate with typical daily temperatures between 75° and 84° F. The temperature seldom exceeds 90° F.
18. Panama City is home to the second largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere — the only capital in the world to boast a rainforest within the city limits.
19. While Spanish is the official language of Panama, English is taught in all schools and many Panamanian executives are fully bilingual.
20. While the national currency in Panama is called Balboa, the U.S. Dollar is the official currency and is used for bills.
What fun fact can you add about Panama City, Panama?
To learn more about Panama City, consult these resources:
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Several years ago, we took a summer cruise from New York City to Bermuda, staying four days and three nights in this beautiful paradise.
1. Book Your Cruise on a Ship that Docks in Downtown Hamilton
As you can see, being on a ship docked in downtown Hamilton is allows you to be at the center of action in Bermuda, for easy access to Hamilton, as well as the main bus station and the ferry terminal to visit other parts of the island.
Larger cruise ships dock at the former Royal Navy Dockyard at the western end of the island. This is the only dock area that can handle large ships, such as the Norwegian Breakaway and the Norwegian Dawn; the Celebrity Summit and the Liberty of the Seas and the Grandeur of the Seas from Royal Caribbean. 
2. Download the Public Bus and Ferry Schedules, and Plan Your Destinations in Advance
The public ferry is a fast and scenic way to get from 
3. Visit Tobacco Bay Park
Tobacco Bay Park has changing rooms, showers and toilets as well as a snack bar.
4. In Hamilton: View Rubber Tree, Eat Fish & Chips, Visit the City Hall and Arts Center and Drink a Dark’N’ Stormy 
B. See the Rubber Tree at the entrance to Queen Elizabeth Park that was imported from British Guiana in 1847. Mark Twain, a frequent visitor to Bermuda, joked of his disappointment that the tree didn’t bear overshoes or water bottles.
C. Try the Fish and Chips or the Bermuda fish chowder, made with white fish, sausage, sherry peppers and a splash of Black Seal rum at the Hog Penny Restaurant & Pub.
D. Be on the Lookout for Bermuda businessmen in pink Bermuda shorts and a blue blazer. 
E. Enjoy a Dark N Stormy cocktail during Happy Hour at the Port O’Call on Front Street. The bar is a favorite of ex-pats and business people living and/or working in Bermuda.
5. Take a Sunset Cruise with a Gosling’s Rumologist
Our ‘Rumologist’ was fun and informative during our 90 minute sailing tour.
You can also purchase duty-free rum to take home. In our case, it was delivered to our stateroom on the Veendam during the last night of our cruise.