Granada

Places of Interest - Nicaragua

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introduction

Granada is the colonial jewel of Nicaragua and thousands of tourists visit this town every year. Despite the fact that in the past it was totally destroyed (by, among others, pirates and William Walker), there is nothing of this destruction to be seen today. A beautiful Gothic cathedral, a monastery and a Spanish fortress are some of the highlights that you can visit though you should not forget a visit to the central park.

But an often forgotten gem is the immense patios of the houses and buildings you walk past - a mix of new and colonial where old times revive. The city is large enough to accommodate a range of bars, restaurants, hostels and hotels but small enough to walk around and it is also quite safe. It is therefore not so remarkable that many people use it as a starting point to undertake other things in the country.

highlights

Downtown Granada:

I would recommend you just start to walk when visiting Granada - one of the highlights that you will surely encounter is located in the center and is the monastery of San Fransisco which is the oldest church in Latin America.

The ash blue façade will immediately attract your attention, but it is even bigger inside than you had expected outside. In addition, the true oasis of tranquility in the form of a beautiful courtyard with in the middle a perfect grass garden with impressive waving palm trees.

In addition to being a beautiful building, a museum with an immense scale model of the city is also located. When you walk back to the main square and see the beautiful cathedral, you can visit the La Merced church which is perhaps the most beautiful church in the city (from the outside at least). Like the monastery, these buildings were largely destroyed by pirates and later by William Walker but all rebuilt.

A bit outside the center you can visit the old garrison fort of the Spaniards - La Polvora. On the way back I advise you to take another route and especially to look at the beautifully renovated colonial houses painted in all the bright colors of the rainbow. On the other side of the center is Lake Nicaragua with its pier, tourist centers and a boulevard (which was under reconstruction when I was there).

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history

Granada was founded in 1524 and is one of the oldest cities in the New World. The city, also known as the Grand Sultan as its big brother on the other side of the Atlantic (in Spain), was built by the Spanish settlers as a sample of "showing what we can do". Before that time, the Indians had only met the Spaniards through their vast militairy force and their "foreign" religion.

Now the opportunity was taken to get a lot out of it and to show everyone that the Spaniards could also build something. And despite the many attacks on the city you can still see this in the tourist city of Nicaragua today. From the beginning, the strategic city on Lake Nicaragua was a center of trade. This was reinforced when the Spaniards found a navigable route across the river San Juan.

But this, in addition to extra prosperity, also posed a threat. The city was plundered no less than three times between 1655 and 1660 by English pirates who took this route. Each time the city was rebuilt and it became bigger and more powerful; a conservative stronghold in Central America. When Nicaragua became independent of Spain in 1824, the battle was immediately engaged with the colonial capital, Leon, the country's liberal stronghold.

In the years that followed, things got so bad that it ended in a civil war in 1850 when Leon called in the help of the American William Walker. He and his army conquered the country (including Granada), made himself president and wanted to make all of Latin America a slave backyard of the United States. When the battles suddenly did not go so well and he got hit, he retired to Granada and set it on fire.

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tips & advice (2013)

Bus Granada - Rivas: the trip takes about 1.5 hours and costs 30 C $. Normally, buses from the Rivas bus station go directly to the port city of San Jorge (7 km) from where the ferry or small boat goes to Isla de Ometepe. Because of Semana Santa there were no buses and we took a collectivo (taxi); 20 C $ pp.

This boat trip takes an hour and 35C $ - the ferry costs 55C $.

Name: Convento y Museo San Fransisco

Address: corner Av. Saavedra and Calle El Arsenal

Price: 2 USD (or 50 C $)

Time: 8:30 am to 5:30 pm during the week (slightly earlier in the weekends)

Content:

The façade is a lit bit outdated. It is almost blue gray and has seen and experienced a lot and that’s shown. You enter a small door on the side, but soon you arrive in a large beautiful patio with impressive palm trees in the middle of a garden of grass.

The sprinkler humidifies the grass and you can take a seat in one of the many wooden rocking chairs. There are ferns in large pots and you imagine yourself back in colonial times. Highlights I found the gigantic model of the city and the two rows with figures carved from stone that can be seen in the back. The visit lasts (if you take it easy) only half an hour or 45 minutes.

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Maybe not quite Nicaraguan (I should try vigoron ofcourse) but my stomach is still not top and I see "curry" on the terrace where I drink a beer and I have to admit a very good choice. It was delicious. Place: Irish pub "O sheas" on Calle La Calzada.

Name: Hostal San Angel

Address: Av Guzman

Price: 300 C $ (or 12 USD) incl. Toilet and shower

Phone nr. : 5526373

Email: hostalsanangel@yahoo.com

Content:

This was certainly not my first choice but if you travel to Granada in the middle of the holy week (Semana Santa) then

you do not have much choice. Nevertheless, the room was fine, the shower good and since I had the last room (which is completely in the corner) it is nice and quiet and nobody walks past your room. T

he disadvantage is that you have to go through the entire residence and house of the owners before you are finally in the big lobby room at the street. Other advantage is the location - very close to the Parque Central and also to the bus station and the rest of the sights. You get clean sheets, towel and soap.