Nicaragua has two significant colonial era cities, Leon and
Granada, both of which were founded very early after the region was explored,
Granada in 1521 . In the centuries since then the two cities were major rivals
to the degree that a small town between the two, Managua, was chosen as
Nicaragua’s capital after the country gained independence. The two cities have
always had very different politics, Leon historically supporting the Liberal
Party and Granada the historical stronghold of Nicaragua’s Conservative Party.
That’s continued into modern times with Leon strongly supporting the Sandinista
Revolution and the Sandinistas afterwards and Granada favoring opposition
parties (to the degree they’ve been allowed to exist in the years of Sandinista
control).

That makes the two cities quite different, with Granada
showing much less Sandinista propaganda and graffiti on its buildings. With its
large number of bright-colored churches and widespread colonial architecture, I
found Granada to be the most attractive city in Central America, with the
possible exception of much smaller Antigua, Guatemala. While Leon displays the
indolence of hot climates and socialist incentive systems, Granada is alive
with a pleasant commercial buzz . People actually do try to sell you things in
Granada rather than just beg and make an attempt to give decent service.

With it rather central location to many of Nicaragua’s
tourist attractions and proximity to the international airport at Managua,
Granada also has a quite good tourist infrastructure with many colonial hotels
and hostels and a long strip of restaurants and bars along a pedestrian street
named Calle La Calzada near the town center. La Calzada is the place in town
for great happy hour deals on mixed drinks, including Macuas, Nicaragua’s
national cocktail of white rum and passion fruit, guava, orange, and lime
juices. I spent several evenings sitting at outside tables sipping Macuas and
having my dinner. Once the sun began to set Granada’s high heat diminished and
being outside became quite pleasant. The street even got quite mobbed with
foreign tourists on the weekend indicating that Nicaragua’s tourism biz is
picking up significantly.

Nicaraguan food leaves some to be desired, though, in my
opinion . It tends to be plain and on the starchy side with lots of
beans-n-rice, fried bananas, and starchy plantains (tostones). Many restaurants
have Mexican standards on their menus, but I found it to be quite hit or miss.
It’s not their cuisine and many don’t know how to do it well. I found sticking
with grilled meats as main courses to be the best option.

Then there’s Nicaragua’s most characteristic national dish
called Vigoron. I was eager to give it a try from one of the stalls that sell
it on Granada’s leafy Parque Central in front of the cathedral. Vigoron
consists of mashed boiled yucca route served on a plate covered with banana
leaves and topped with pieces of chicharron (deep fried pork rind) and vinegary
slaw. It won’t win any culinary competitions of get featured in many cookbooks
of Latin food, but I’m glad I tried it.

Granada is where I met the group to start the second on the
group tours I booked on my longer Central American trip. However, I arrived in
town several days early so had a significant amount of time to spend in Granada
and use it as a base to explore other areas around it. The hostel I booked,
though, was on the western edge of town, a twenty minute walk from the center,
so I got some exercise every day on my way into town and back. Overall Granada
was a pretty good place to spend a few extra days, but with its low-elevation
the city is extremely hot. If I were ever to return to Central America to spend
a significant time in one place such as to learn Spanish, I would definitely
choose a cooler higher elevation spot like Antigua.