PHOTO: Cosmopolitan Panama City. Courtesy Thinkstock.
This past spring, Barry and Julie Karp - owners of ShoreTrips, explored Cartagena, Colombia and Panama City, Panama in order to provide ShoreTrippers with another great experience of fabulous fun under the sun.
Cartagena is a modern port city located on Colombia's Caribbean coast. The heart of Cartagena is a walled city with plazas dating back to the 16th century, cobblestone streets and colorful colonial buildings. Its popular beach locations offer a tropical climate with offshore breezes welcoming visitors from far and wide. This is what first attracted the Karps to Cartagena and why they felt drawn to return.
Since their last visit, Cartagena is alive, well and thriving. They have visited many international walled cities but none impressed them as much as Cartagena's. The city has become a popular metropolitan area very much inhabited by its people. It is very clean, friendly and colorful. While streets are filled with local shops, street merchants and merchandisers busily move products down narrow streets using all available methods of transport.
Breathtaking vistas such as balconies with bougainvillea cascading down multiple floors appear around every corner. Restaurants ranging from local street food to those of celebrated chefs were all beautifully designed. One such dining spot that the Karps favored had tables on a glass floor with a stream flowing underneath gently accompanied by subtle lighting. Local artisans, designers and clever storeowners with sophisticated styles of clothing and home furnishings from around the world showcase their merchandise here as well.
Equally as impressive, Panama City is Panama's cosmopolitan capital located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. It offers a multi-cultural experience that embraces a colorful compliment of old with new.
The only true first world city in Central America, Panama City's high-speed Internet and cell coverage are exceptional … as are the power, air and water quality. Travel in and out of the city is convenient. The Tocumen International Airport is a hub that makes it easy to fly from Panama to just about anywhere else in the world - with no layovers. The beautiful Pan-American Highway runs the breadth of the country. Panama City is convenient for U.S. expats because the currency is the U.S. dollar and its English-speaking medical community is world class.
As the home of the Panama Canal, no visit wouldn be complete without a trip to the canal. This is not a bird's-eye view but a personal experience complete including historic milestones about building the great canal that only ShoreTrips can deliver. ShoreTrips gets you close enough to experience what it must have been like for those hearty souls who designed and built the canal and those who died trying.
If you're into a birds-eye view of things, ShoreTrips lets you soar like an eagle. A helicopter ride over Panama City is an experience of a lifetime. Fly the entire length of the canal from Balboa to Colon. Your return flight will loop around the modern skyscrapers of Panama City allowing you to experience what few mortals are able to enjoy -- ShoreTrippin' at its best.
The Karp's experiences will be reflected in their new excursions, from a cultural immersion to a shopping tour, everything with the goal of introducing you to a city that people would hesitate visiting to one that will welcome you with open arms.
ShoreTrips, make memories that will last a lifetime.
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