Colon, PANAMA

RENOWNED as the gateway to the Panama Canal, Colon is a fading Spanish colonial city of pastel-hued mansions and crumbling public buildings. Step ashore and embark on one of Marella Cruises’ amazing excursions: drive into the National Park around the Chagres River to take a lake boat to an indigenous Embera Indian settlement, and see how this local tribe live. Take a tour of Panama City, wandering through the ruins of Old Panama, the only place in the world where you can stand on the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in less than an hour. Or visit the engineering masterpiece that is the Panama Canal, with a variety of excursions.