Mini-vacation in Granada, Nicaragua

This weekend is a longer weekend with two holidays on Sept 14 (Battle of San Jacinto) and Sept 15 (Independence Day).  We thought we'd take advantage of some of the flexible time to head out and see some of the old city of Granada (est. 1524).  With kids at the age that our kids are, the most important thing about the historic tour was riding in a horse-drawn carriage, the best of the tour of the islets was the boat itself, and the colonial-style hotel was great because of its pool.  Our only disappointment was not being better prepared to know which restaurants to go to.  We had some really good meals and some that were not great (sometimes after lots of walking and searching).  All in all, though, it was a great weekend. Here are some highlights.

 Snack at the hotel.  Beautiful place and reasonable rates.

 Classy historical tour with the horses and carriage.  Our guide told us that his horses are named Mercedes and Benz.  Behind is the old railroad line that used to run across the country.

Loving the ride.  The old, now inactive, volcano Mombacho in the distance.

 Silas loves horses.  He's on top of the world here.

 Some ordinary streets in the historical part of town.

 We saw quite a few very old buildings.  This church is San Fransisco, which was the first one built in 1525. However the city was burned at different points in history through different conflicts and the church has been rebuilt/restored various times.

 The main cathedral at the central plaza.

 And back to the hotel to our favorite little corner.

The next day we went on a boat ride to set the islets.  Mombacho's eruptions from long long ago left a few hundred of these tiny islands in the huge Lake Nicaragua (Cocibolca).

 

Some very wealthy people have bought islets to build fancy vacation houses.

 

 

Ordinary people live around here as well.

 At some point someone brought some monkeys (who live elsewhere in Nicaragua) to the islets.  We fed them Maria cookie/crackers.

 (part of Mombacho there on the left in the background)

 

Back at the hotel and heading to that good pool again before the return trip to Managua.