Page 116 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

114 The Panama Canal and CenTral isThmus Portobelo
fortifications by the British. The main entrance takes you through a vestibule protected
by gun ports to the grassy parade grounds, where the ruined walls of the officers’
quarters, barracks, kitchen and artillery emplacement are visible. More impressive are
the lower and upper batteries, their cannons pointing out across the bay.

Mirador El Perú
If you’ve time, it’s worth crossing over the road from Fuerte Santiago for the steep
2 five-minute climb to the Mirador El Perú. The mirador is on the site of a watchtower of
the former Fortaleza Santiago de la Gloria, whose scarcely visible overgrown ruins are
now bisected by the main road below.

Fuerte San Fernando
Across the bay from Fuerte Santiago • Open access • Free • Take a water-taxi ($5) from the jetty by Fuerte Santiago
Across the bay from Fuerte Santiago you can make out what little remains of Fuerte
San Fernando peeking through dense foliage. As with the other forts, many of the
original stones were plundered for construction of the Canal. Though smaller than its
sibling fort, the scenic spot gives a different perspective on the town.

Casa Real de la Aduana
Plaza Central • Daily 8am–4pm • $5
The small Plaza Central in the town centre is dominated by the two-storey coral stone
and brick Casa Real de la Aduana, built in 1638 to replace an earlier wooden structure.
A third of the world’s gold, alongside copious other treasures, passed through this
customs house for more than a century; there was only one entrance and one exit to
reduce fraud and theft and to ensure the Crown got its full royal cut of the spoils.
Destroyed in an earthquake in 1882, it underwent a $1 million restoration in 1997
and now houses a small, diverting two-room museum containing models of the
original forts, costumes and other exhibits including the obligatory pile of cannon
balls. It’s debatable whether it merits the entrance fee.

Fuerte San Jerónimo
Behind the Casa Real de la Aduana • Open access • Free
Down by the waterside and hemmed in by housing lies Fuerte San Jerónimo, the
town’s largest and most impressive ruin. The former parade ground stretches along the
eighteen gun emplacements of the lower battery, with nearly all the original rusting
cannons intact. It’s worth walking along to the high battery, where you can still see the
rainwater reservoir, storage rooms for gunpowder and the latrines, and get a great view
of the entrance of the bay.

Iglesia de San Felipe
Main road • Daily 6am–6pm • Free
One of the town’s major landmarks, and focus of the annual Festival del Nazareño
(see box opposite), is the Iglesia de San Felipe, which overlooks a bare square. Although
construction started in 1606, the church was only completed in 1814, making it the
conquistadors’ last religious building in Panama, with the bell tower added in 1945.
Inside you’ll find white walls and a large, carved gilt mahogany altarpiece, though the
focus inevitably is on the object of so much devotion, the so-called Cristo Negro, a
dark-skinned, lifelike statue of Jesus bearing the Cross that peers out from behind a glass
casement. Check to see whether the museum at the back of the church has reopened;
showcasing a splendid collection of luxurious velvet robes donated by wealthy devotees
for the Nazareño to wear, it has been awaiting sufficient funding to reopen.

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