Norman's Blog

Sunday 18 October 2015

Granada, Sunday, 18th October

The hostel that we had signed into the night before didn't look much from the outside but it was a fascinating place when viewed from the inside. The reception desk.

The central communal area complete with garden and hammocks.

Some of the other pulic spaces and the swiming pool.

The buildings around the central plaza and immediate side streets were fascinating, including some art nouveau as well as traditional buildings.

The cathedral.

The bandstand.

Leon and Granada had competed with each other to be the capital and it had oscillated between the two until Managua was finally chosen and never changed (so far). In my opinion Granada is the nicer city of the two.

I took an early morning walk down the road from the plaza past yet another grand church to the shore of Lake Nicaragua, the second largest lake in central and south America after lake Titicaca.

Lake Nicaragua shore lie in the morning.

Then after breakfast I waited to be picked up for my boat trip around some of the islands in the lake. The boat left from a small jetty not far from where I had seen the early morning sun rise above the lake before breakfast. There were lots of floating plants on the surface but I wasn't keen to put my hnd in the water as there are freshwater sharks and caymans in the torpid waters.

The lake has a lot of fish in it and a lot of the locals fish in it mostly as a job rather than for just pleasure.

Weaver birds nest hanging from the trees.

The guide told us about many of the owners of the islands, many of which had grand houses built upon them as holiday homes of the rich. It was a Nicaraguan version of a trip around Beverley Hills with a string of locally and internationally known dignitaries owning most of the islands.