Considered to be the country's cultural capital, León's charming streets are filled with a captivating collection of elegant old buildings, wrought iron balconies and arched colonnades. Today you will have a chance to discover its resplendent churches and fascinating museums, before enjoying the views from the roof of the city's immense cathedral.
León is named after León, Spain. After independence, the elites of León and Granada struggled over which city would be the capital. León was dominated by the liberals and Granada by the conservatives. The fighting ended when Managua became the capital.
After Granada, which is better preserved, León has the best colonial architecture in Nicaragua. It is a university town that stubbornly remains somewhat pro-Sandinista. During the 1979 revolution, the Sandinistas took over León in violent street by street fighting. Somoza then had the city bombed. The National Guard took León back over, again in street by street fighting, but this time less intense since the Sandinistas melted away. Finally, the Sandinistas took León back over and held it until the Somoza government fell. You can still see bullet marks on some buildings. Also, there is a shell of a church on the road out of town that was destroyed during the bombing. Across the street from this church is the Museo de las Mytos y Leyendas Tradiciones (Museum of Myths and Legends), which prominently displays a statute of a Sandinista guerrilla holding a handmade bomb.
There is a small, but interesting museum about the revolution. It is not a modern museum and you need to understand Spanish to read the exhibits and understand the ex-revolutionary guide who shows you round. The major emphasis is on the life of Sandino, who led a guerrilla revolt for 7 years against US marines occupying the country from 1926-1933 before being assassinated by Somoza. Reading some of the captions provides a general outline of Nicaragua from Sandino to the overthrow of Somoza. There is a large mural showing the revolutionary heroes of Nicaragua as well as the omnipresent portrait of Che.
Potosi
Our ferry from El Salvador dropped us off at the immigration hut at Potosi. The guard reveleed in his power, and we took an hour to clear, even though there was no queue.. From Potosi there was over an hour by car on rough roads for half the way.
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Leon
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Hotel Flor de Sarta
9.6 On Booking.com and on TripAdvisor . Hotel Flor De Sarta is an elegant, boutique hotel. It has an outdoor pool. This colonial-style property with a modern style features rooms that provide a flat-screen cable TV and air conditioning. Lunch and dinner options can be found within a 5-minute walk.
This is a lovely small hotel, about 400 meters from the centre of Leon. It is owned and run by a French couple who are on site all the time.
We had the upstairs King Double, with its own private terrace. And that was very agreeable and one could sit on the balcony and look down on the small, modern swimming pool.
The buffet breakfast is served with a choice of fresh cooked eggs. The one criticism I have is that the breakfast area is a bit stark with all the tables in line and no plants around. They could improve the ambience of this area.
The walk into town for dinner at night is perfectly acceptable and safe. A torch helps as the pavements are not always maintained.
All in all, we enjoyed our two nights here and recommend the hotel to anyone staying in Leon. Leon itself, by the way is a city worth visiting - the tourist hordes have not yet got here, and it is rich in the history of the recent civil war.
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El Bodegon Restaurante
Close to the centre of Leon, you go through the un-presupposing front part of the restaurant to reach the garden at the back. This is not in any way luxury dining - it is pretty basic, but for this part of the world just great.
We ate here two evenings and enjoyed both. I did not find the staff very forthcoming , but neither were they off putting!
It really was a nice place to sit and eat dinner - once you have taken the courage to walk through the scruffy street side tables.
As for the frozen mojitos, just keep on drinking them, they slip down very easily
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It was a short drive from here to Granada
