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Fuerte San Lorenzo
The Fuerte San Lorenzo was built in 1595, by order of Felipe II of Spain, to fortify the Río Chagres and the trade route to the city of Panamá. Despite its violent history, which includes constant pirate attack (and occupation by Sir Francis Drake himself), much of San Lorenzo is well preserved, including the moat, the cannons and the arched rooms.
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Gatún Dam
The Gatún Dam, constructed in 1908 to shore up the Río Chagres and to create Lago Gatún, was the world's largest dam until 1940. When created, it submerged 262 sq km (163 sq mi) of jungle, entire villages (the people were relocated first) and large sections of the Panama Railroad. Although the dam is always impressive, it's especially worth coming out here if the spillway is open - the sight of millions of gallons of water rushing out is amazing.
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Gatún Locks
The Gatún Locks raise southbound ships 29.5m (96.7ft) from Caribbean waters to the level of Lago Gatún. From there, ships travel 37km (23mi) to the Pedro Miguel Locks, which lower southbound ships 9.3m (30.5ft) to Lago Miraflores, a small body of water that separates the two sets of Pacific locks. The ships are lowered to sea level at the Miraflores Locks.
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Panama Canal Yacht Club
This is a safe haven for 'yachties' heading through the canal. It has a restaurant, bar, showers and a bulletin board with notices from people offering or seeking positions as crew. This is the place to inquire about work as a line handler. Don't expect to show up and get work; it can often take several weeks. Still, seeing the canal from the inside is the best way to experience it.
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Zona Libre
Colón's free-trade zone is a huge fortress-like area of giant international stores selling items duty free. In fact, it's the world's second-largest duty-free port after Hong Kong. However, most of these stores only deal in bulk merchandise; they aren't set up to sell to individual tourists and the window-shopping is not very interesting.
Showing 1-5 of 5 results
