Style & Charm in Granada, Nicaragua

By Degan Beley - Think of Granada and the Spanish city might come to mind: rolling hills, sangria, tapas and other Andalusian details. But to focus on that place would be to neglect another gem with its own culture and landscape, Granada, Nicaragua. Founded in 1524 by Spanish explorer Hernandez de Cordoba, Granada was named for the first city (his hometown), and a lot of the style and charm evident here has to do with its international inheritance. Even its nickname, la Gran Sultana has been passed down from Spain and its Arabian influence. Granada is the oldest colonial city in Central America and has developed a stately flair that you won't find in any of the nearby towns.

Bell Tower, Granada, Nicaragua (Degan Beley)

The unique character is seeped into the architecture, the geography, geology, history and culture. These are the quotients of any city but in Granada they meld and complement and come up with something completely different. Part of this influence is Spanish—the atmosphere here is distinctly European with its stoic, pillared homes and huge stone cathedral, but the rest can only belong to Nicaragua—volcano views that surround the town, beautifully coloured buildings lush green palms and ferns, and charming Nicaraguan people. Coming into Granada from the poverty and dust of Nicaragua, Granada feels dignified and distinguished. It is a grand old city, full of character and stories that you can see played out in the streets and the architecture. Everything meshes together to give a sense of pride to culture and history and you can tell immediately that something else is going on here. This place has style.

Granada was built near the water, like most important outposts of the day, but it is unique in that it is actually on the shores of Lake Nicaragua (the second largest Lake in Latin America) and not on one of the nearby oceans. This was a strategic location for the city. Granada sits on the northwest shore of the lake, slightly south of the capital city, Managua. The Pacific Ocean is only 18km away overland, and the Caribbean Sea is accessible via the lake and the San Juan River. This way the city had a tight grasp on commerce through the area for hundreds of years, and more recently was even considered for the site of the Panama Canal. The lake takes up a big chunk of Nicaragua and creates a lot of fertile areas for farming. It's now believed that the lake was actually once part of the Pacific Ocean and got landlocked through a series of volcanic eruptions. This seems likely considering that the lake is the only place in the world where fresh-water sharks exist, as well as a number of birds and creatures normally found near the sea!

Cathedral Construction, Granada, Nicaragua (Degan Beley)

Our trip to Granada started in Costa Rica. My girlfriend and I decided to venture into Nicaragua on a bit of a spontaneous detour. We hadn't initially planned to go there, but were lured by the prospect of another stamp in our passports (in fact we got four!) and we were rewarded in so many other ways. The land of lakes and volcanoes, as Nicaragua is aptly named, is beautiful countryside and the people were warm and welcoming. We came up from Costa Rican border, stopping first to look at the Concepcion y Maria volcanoes emerging from the centre of Lake Nicaragua, and then up to the top of the Santiago volcano for a look inside. It was interesting, and I learned a lot, but it was nothing compared with arriving in the streets of Granada.

We disembarked in the centre of the plaza, right in front of the cathedral and started to get a feel for the town. It's striking. The cathedral dominates, although it is less ornate than most Spanish undertakings—all white stone and few frills, but what it lacks in gilt, it makes up in size. I'm not sure what the inside capacity was like, as we didn't go inside, but I'm sure it is immense. Instead took a hot walk around the square. It was noon and everyone was just going about their day: children were playing, adults were lounging on park benches and veranda rocking chairs enjoying the shade, young girls were selling ice cream and jewelry. Everyone was spending a very content afternoon. The pace was set partly from the heat, but even still, Granada seemed to have distanced itself from the frantic scrambling of tourists and the beggars that inevitably follow them. There were a few of both, to be sure, but they somehow got lost in the charm of the city. The plaza lolls in front of the cathedral, a huge amount of space, which is typical of any Latin city. The church and plaza (marketplace) are always at the centre and various shops, services and homes extending outward from there. It reflects the values of the people, with the church and economy as pillars and everything else related spatially in order of importance. In Granada, the view from the cathedral steps is particularly delightful; great old colonial homes and stately hotels line up together in all different colours. There are various monuments and gardens as well, and they serve as a beautiful public space to show the pride in their architecture. It is distinctly colonial, with its white pillars and long shady verandas, but the buildings are actually fairly recent.

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