Panama City once served as a key link along the gold-and-silver trading routes between Spain and the Americas—a crossroads for ships and sailors from the world over. You can still get a glimpse of that antique international flavor in the city's charming, 17th-century Casco Viejo—or Old Quarter—a UNESCO World Heritage Site of cobblestone streets, new boutique hotels, and crumbling colonial mansions. Expats have discovered Panama City's cosmopolitan charms and added to the multicultural tapestry even more. Indian and Chinese fare is served alongside traditional Panamanian fresh seafood dishes. Downtown, gleaming skyscrapers serve as the hub of the international business and finance industries, but they're not bartering gold and silver anymore—they’re just proving Panama City's reign as Central America's most international melting pot.