Granada - photos 1

Granada:

Before going back to the beach, we had a break in Granada, not in Spain but in Nicaragua obviously!

Granada was founded in 1524 by Hernandez de Cordoba and was named after the the Spanish city of Granada. The city has been witness and victim to many of the battles with and invasions from pirates trying to take control of Nicaragua. One American,Charles Henningsen, set the city on fire destroying much of the ancient city and leaving printed the words "Granada Was Here". For many years Granada was in conflict with an other city, Leon, for the hegemony as the major city of Nicaragua, conflict which became quite violent between the cities and political factions. In the mid 1800s it was agreed that Managua, situated in between both cities, will become the capital of Nicaragua.

We took the bus from San Juan Del Sur to Rivas then from one of the worst bus station we have seen (all surrounded by market stalls), we took the bus to Granada. We arrived early afternoon and spent the rest of the day exploring this colonial city with lots of pretty churches and typical spanish little streets.. I am not utilising "charming colonial city" because the buildings were great but it was missing life. Streets and plazas were empty except one street that I can call the "gringo's street" which was full of cafes and restaurants quite dedicated to tourists. Less nice! So we only spent one night here before heading off to the beach the next day.

- "Plaza de la Independencia" with the town hall painted in red. The building was superb but as you can see nobody can't be seen around and it was more like a used decor for a movie. This is mainly due to the foreigners who are buying the old houses at high prices and pulling locals out of the town centre. What a shame!
- The "Parque Central". Again nobody!
- The famous "calle" or street "La Calzada" or for me the tourists' street. In the background on the left the Cathedral,
- Close view of the newly painted Cathedral which was built in the early 20's upon the foundation of an earlier church,
- This lady is selling tins and how easy it looks for her to carry that on her head! We saw lots of women in Nicaragua using their heads to carry everything imaginable!