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Granada is Nicaragua's oldest city founded in 1524. Historically conservative, Granada has been consistently fighting with it's more liberal neighbours Leon resulting in a civil war in the 1850s. Despite being raised to the ground by William Walker soon after, with the infamous remnants including a sign saying 'here was Granada', what greets you now is a charming city, restored to its former glory with coloured buildings, churches and cobbled streets all in plentiful supply.
We arrived from Ometepe on a chicken bus, clearly becoming the way to travel in Central America. Our hotel, casa de agua with a courtyard and swimming pool felt like a million miles away from the rural, stripped back and more 'authentic' Ometepe.
Short on time and wanting to see as much of the city as possible, we set out on foot to explore its colonial charm. One of the must sees here is the Iglesia de la Merced, with a bell tower which you can climb. Once at the top you get panoramic views over the city and surrounding valley.
After seeing a few more churches, with more than a few pictures of horse drawn carriages and the colourful buildings we headed to a cigar shop to learn more about how they are made. Recommended by our hotel, as soon as we walked into don elba's we were straight away asked to choose how we liked our cigars. Opting for a mix of strong and smooth within a few minutes we were in the lounge smoking away. Half a cigar later and sounding like pat butcher we left with a few presents.
Finishing the evening off in the authentically local O'Sheas bar, it was rude not to enjoy the happy hour (which is all day; very Irish) with £1 cube libres made with flor de caña rum. Not a bad way to round off a day of sightseeing.
Sadly due to lack of time we didn't get a chance to see lago de apoyo, which is meant to be beautiful. Oh well, another time maybe. With that our short but sweet trip in Granada was up. Now onto its bitter rival Leon for a spot of volcano boarding and more colonial charm.
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