Considered one of the best venues for jogging, bike ridding and picnics in town, Parque Omar, Panama City’s second-largest metropolitan park seems to have finally accepted its name. What was originally Panama’s first golf course (circa 1940’s) became Parque Recreativo Omar in the early 1980’s. However, locals continued referring to it as the antiguo (old) Club de Golf for a number of years.

The park’s official name honored that of General Omar Torrijos, who ruled Panama between 1968-1981. But when his political oponents came to power in the early 1990s, the park was re-named Héctor Gallegos, honoring a late priest. The name changed back to Parque Omar Torrijos’ supporters won the following presidential elections in 1994. Although the two political parties have alternated in power in the last 10 years, the park’s official name has remained unchanged ever since.

Located in the neighborhood of San Francisco, Parque Omar, is popular among people of all ages, professions and social classes, including local public figures. It features a 3.5 km jogging circuit, sports facilities (soccer, tenis and baseball), a swimming pool, picnic areas and play areas for children. The park is also home to the country’s largest library --Biblioteca Ernesto J. Castillero National.

A police station assures complete security. The park opens from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The church's façade was removed from Old Panama and re-assembled by slaves in its present location, in the San Felipe district.

Someone should submit La Merced Church, in the historic district of San Felipe, to the Guiness Book of Records as the luckiest building in the world.

The church has stood in its present location since 1673, but it is the resurrection of the La Merced church located in Old Panama, some ten kilometers to the east.

The original church in Old Panama was built in the 16th century and survived a number of fires and earthquakes before the final plundering of the city by English privateer, Sir Henry Morgan, in 1671. La Merced, which was one of the few buildings not affected by the subsequent fire (ordered by the city’s governor, Juan Pérez de Guzmán) served as headquarters of Morgan’s forces during their month-long stay.

When Spanish authorities ordered the relocation of the city to present-day San Felipe, black slaves underwent the painstaking task of removing La Merced’s baroque-style façade stone by stone to re-assemble it in its present location, where it has survived the "small fire" and "big fires",which almost destroyed San Felipe in the 18th century, as well as the 1880 earthquake.

The first La Merced church has an enormous historic significance. It was there that, in 1531 Francisco Pizzarro and Diego de Almagro took Holy Communion before setting sail to conquer the rich Inca empire, in Perú.

Built in a Neo-Classic style, Panama’s National Theater was one of the first public buildings inaugurated after the birth of the Republic, in 1903. Designed by Italian architect Genaro Ruggeri, the Theater was inaugurated on October 1, 1908 with the inauguration of José de Obaldía, the second president of Panama. That same year, a international famous troupe of the the time staged Verdi’s Aida.

With a capacity for 850 spectators, the Theater features on its main ceiling and foyer, frescoes by Roberto Lewis, the most renowned Panamanian painter of the first half of the 20th century.