Granada
From El Salvador we took a bus up through the border and back into Nicaragua to visit the colonial splendor of Granada Nicaragua's forth largest city. In parts, Granada's buildings have been beautifully restored but due to the nations economic collapse in the 1980's there are still many areas and buildings a little neglected and in need of financial funding for restoration. This adds a certain charm and character to the place though and we really liked the 'rough around the edges' feel. Whilst there, we visted the chocolate museum and sampled one dollar mojitos at a local bar. They were amazing.
The colonial rooftops
The cathedral of Granada
Leon
Poor old Leon is Granada's neglected, runty little brother. Any funding that Leon should have had in the past for redevelopment and restoration has obviously been delivered to the more tourist-friendly Granada. It still has a few charms though but we're glad that we only stayed there for one night. It didn't take us long to look around the city and we spent most of the day organising a bus ticket out of the place.
The next day we awoke at 3am to catch a 4am 'King Quality' bus to take us to El Salvador. Whilst waiting in a petrol station for the bus to arrive, we were joyfully entertained by two drunken guys having a bare knuckle fistfight while their punchy friends looked on. The atmosphere was really ugly and thick with violence and we felt pretty vulnerable sat there as gringos under the petrol stations lights with our backpacks. It also didn't help that the bus was almost two hours late but needless to say, it was a genuine relief to get onboard.
The cathdral of Mary's assumption
The lion sculpture outside the cathedral
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