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Casa Mar Alta
Casco Viejo: Panama City, Panama
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 “I checked
into Hotel Mar Alta, former home of a French canal
builder. I enjoyed a dining room, office, sitting
room, sun terrace, bedroom and maid's quarters. I
could have stayed there forever.” -- Howard Marks,
London Observer
MarAlta, which means
“high tide”, is an elegantly restored, family owned,
19th-century two-bedroom intimate colonial home.
Originally rebuilt from a house designed by an aristocratic
French family during the failed French Canal between 1872 and
1880, it was restored in 1923 and later abandoned by its owners
50 years later. In 1998, its current owners restored MarAlta to
its original details, preserving its cupola, magnificent
colorful French tiles and intricate moldings.
 The Penthouse, located in the second and third floor of the
building, was designed to offer its visitors intimate luxury,
maximum comfort and colonial elegance, highlighted by the
owners’ private collection of art.
Balconies and a beautiful
terrace encourage privacy and a quiet contemplation of the
scenic beauty of the walled city and the Pacific Ocean.
With 260 square meters (2700 square feet), the large Penthouse
boasts two bedrooms each with its own bathroom, a living room,
dining room, large kitchen, roof terrace with bar, and a maid
room with its own bathroom.
 Each room is shaped by 6-meter-high (19-feet) ceilings with
elaborate moldings, French doors and windows, central air
conditioning, wrap-around balconies with varying views, all
connected by a long and graceful foyer. Furnishings are Spanish,
Moroccan, and tropical mahogany pieces, which give the apartment
an eclectic colonial European mood.
Within the fortified Spanish colonial city of Panama, San Felipe
was its aristocratic quarters since the city’s foundation in
1673. Full of beautiful contrasts, this historic Casco Viejo, or
Old Quarters, guards the treads of different cultures that
settled the Isthmus through the centuries.
 The studwork of its streets, sinuous and narrow, reveal an
eclectic French and Spanish architecture nowhere else seen in
the Americas that impress for its beauty and history.
Declared by UNESCO Patrimony of Humanity, visitors will
experience enchantment strolling in the 17th century churches,
plazas, whitewashed elegant mansions with overhanging balconies
and interior patios, sidewalk cafes, bars, and museums.
From the stone walls of the fortified city, visitors will
witness the splendid views of Panama Bay, which separate the Old
Quarters from the modern city and the entrance to the legendary
Panama Canal.
In the Casco Viejo, the visitor will experience the rich
cultures that settled the Isthmus through the centuries. Within
blocks of MarAlta, our guests can visit the French baroque
Palacio de las Garzas, for century’s home of the colonial
Governor and now President of Panama. The Panama Canal Museum
chronicles in photos and videos the attempt to build a waterway
to unite the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans since Balboa
discovered the Pacific Ocean in Panama in 1613.
 There are a dozen churches, including the large Cathedral in
front of the main plaza, the gold alter of the Church of San
Jose, the only remaining jewel of the old city sacked by Captain
Morgan in the 16th century, and the peaceful ruins of the
Convent of the Company of Jesus.
Visitors can also stroll on top of the wide seawall, where
dozens of canons once protected the city from pirates and
buccaneer attacks. From there, they can watch the orange sunsets
falling over the narrow Bridge of the Americas which unite the
North American and South American continents, and view the queue
of ships lining up to enter the impressive locks of the Panama
Canal.
Our guests can choose to relax in one of the many sidewalk
cafes, and watch the rich mix of colored natives sitting on the
balconies and the white new settlers restoring dilapidated
family mansions to their original glory, and for a moment get a
glimpse of what life in colonial America must have been like
centuries ago.
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