|
Twenty kilometres off the coast and about an hour away by boat, the tiny island of Taboga is one of the most popular weekend retreats for Panama City residents, who come here to enjoy its clear waters, peaceful atmosphere and verdant beauty. Known as the "Island of Flowers" for the innumerable fragrant blooms that decorate its village and forested slopes, Taboga gets very busy on the weekends, particularly during the summer, but is usually quiet during the week, and if you stay the night you will have the place largely to yourself. The island was settled by the Spanish in 1524 and served as a deep-water port before such facilities were established on the mainland - it was from here that Francisco Pizarro set sail for the conquest of Peru. Frequent pirate raids led to the fortification of El Morro Island, opposite Taboga, which in the nineteenth century served as the headquarters of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. In 1882 the French Canal Company built a sanatorium on Taboga for convalescing employees, among whom was the French post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin , who came to Panama hoping to buy land on Taboga and "live on fish and fruit". However, the canal construction work was too hard and the price of land too high for his meagre wages, so on recovering he took his quest for paradise west across the Pacific to Tahiti.
Your Tip for Isla Taboga
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Isla Taboga - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Isla Taboga - visit the main Isla Taboga forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Isla Taboga webguide section below! Thanks.
| 
