Granada in Nicaragua, the oldest colonial city in Central America

Granada, a beautiful city in Nicaragua, is the oldest colonial city founded in Central America. It was the most important city in the region, not only for being the oldest but four being the best located in that time. If you travel Central America you will see many colonial cities all over the countries, very beautiful all of them, but Granada certainly is one of the most beautiful, with an ancient history. If you're looking to visit Colonial cities, you should definitely go to Granada.
Granada is located beside Lake Nicaragua, this is the Big Lake, we will talk about the Big Lake in future posts, it's more like an ocean, it's very large, you can not see the other side in the horizon. Granada was the main center of commerce due to the connection of Big Lake Nicaragua with the Caribbean Sea and just 18 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean.

The Spanish conquerors left the proof of their dominion as Granada and Leon (another colonial city) still keep the original colonial houses and public buildings of that time. When you go there and walk around the streets and see the colonial buildings and churches, it seems that the time has stopped, and you are like living in older times, many centuries ago, you can actually have that feeling!

In the streets and parks you can see horse drawn carriages, which were the way of transportation used during the colony and remain the same since that time. A tour in a horse drawn carriage is a must for visitors to Granada; it will take you back in time for more than 500 years.

Granada, the oldest colonial city in Central America, was founded by the Spanish conqueror "Don Francisco Hernández de Córdoba" in 1524. This city is rich in colonial architecture and the city tour allow you to close appreciate old colonial buildings like:

Old Spanish ammunition fortress La Merced and Xalteva churches San Francisco Convent (built in 1524) Casa de los Leones (A portal carved on stones showing two lions heads).

The city has good hotels to stay with modern facilities, and it's also not very far from Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, you can go to Granada from Managua in the morning and return in the evening, but if you could spend the night in a colonial place like this you won't regret it.