The Hushed Elegance of Los Cuatro Tulipanes, Casco Viejo, Panama
We find our way back to Los Cuatro Tulipanes in Casco Viejo by landmarks, sights and sounds: the nonchalant dog
who lays on the sidewalk near the president’s security guard (who seems to be the only dog in a city of cats); the smell of beef broth from an open door whose meaty heat is added to the saturated heat of close dwellings and narrow passage ways, causing a linear view of the sea, its pungency carried by erratic winds; and remembering to walk just past the ruins of a convent that is open to the sky and must be locked at night. Other than these landmarks, the architectural detail and range of this old quarter is too hard to follow in order; there are too many colored plastered walls to register, too many romantic balconies to note, too many Neo-Renaissance columns to 
admire, too many Spanish flourishes in the floor tiles of the inner courtyards barely glimpsed, to remember how to get back to our rental, which is behind a discrete façade with a sign that says “Las Monjas” next to the high end ice cream establishment of Granclement.
Inside our Los Cuatro Tulipanes second story apartment it is all hushed elegance, new, coordinated, thoughtfully equipped, clean, restful, a composite of reimagined antiques and historical relics: lamps shaped like pineapples, side tables with painted surfaces, the feminine lines of the upholstered chairs, and the raw exposed walls of stone and brick that jut out into the living room as an archeological backdrop for the television and in the bedroom as the headrest for the king- sized bed. One French window on the first floor opens to the atrium below where the concierge greets us with open smiles, and the other to a small
patio with the umbrella unfurled. The kitchen has shelves lined with nice stemware and white dishware and a counter with useful small appliances, a full-sized fridge already stocked with hospitable beer and wine.
There is room to relax and to spread your purchases from the San Blas Indian vendors, room to refresh oneself in either bathroom from touring the Palacio Bolivar, room to choose an outfit to wear to eat tapas at the restaurants beside the plazas from the two wardrobes with shuttered doors, and room to descend the wide steps between the levels, feeling grand and sophisticated, knowing that you are residing in the best place to enjoy the Casco Viejo evolution.
who lays on the sidewalk near the president’s security guard (who seems to be the only dog in a city of cats); the smell of beef broth from an open door whose meaty heat is added to the saturated heat of close dwellings and narrow passage ways, causing a linear view of the sea, its pungency carried by erratic winds; and remembering to walk just past the ruins of a convent that is open to the sky and must be locked at night. Other than these landmarks, the architectural detail and range of this old quarter is too hard to follow in order; there are too many colored plastered walls to register, too many romantic balconies to note, too many Neo-Renaissance columns to admire, too many Spanish flourishes in the floor tiles of the inner courtyards barely glimpsed, to remember how to get back to our rental, which is behind a discrete façade with a sign that says “Las Monjas” next to the high end ice cream establishment of Granclement.Inside our Los Cuatro Tulipanes second story apartment it is all hushed elegance, new, coordinated, thoughtfully equipped, clean, restful, a composite of reimagined antiques and historical relics: lamps shaped like pineapples, side tables with painted surfaces, the feminine lines of the upholstered chairs, and the raw exposed walls of stone and brick that jut out into the living room as an archeological backdrop for the television and in the bedroom as the headrest for the king- sized bed. One French window on the first floor opens to the atrium below where the concierge greets us with open smiles, and the other to a small
patio with the umbrella unfurled. The kitchen has shelves lined with nice stemware and white dishware and a counter with useful small appliances, a full-sized fridge already stocked with hospitable beer and wine.There is room to relax and to spread your purchases from the San Blas Indian vendors, room to refresh oneself in either bathroom from touring the Palacio Bolivar, room to choose an outfit to wear to eat tapas at the restaurants beside the plazas from the two wardrobes with shuttered doors, and room to descend the wide steps between the levels, feeling grand and sophisticated, knowing that you are residing in the best place to enjoy the Casco Viejo evolution.