grand sultan Granada

We were feeling super lazy and, with the luxury of travelling in a 4, decided to get a cab for the 1 and a half hour journey from San Juan to Grenada. All chilledness that resulted from that soon disappeared when we arrived to find there appeared to be a dearth of accomodation. The boys searched for over an hour before we settled on a rather overpriced 30 dollar a night place which, at least, had a pool and a free breakfast! Having finally settled in, we went out to explore and enjoyed what we saw.. Granada is very well preserved in the centre with a lovely old cathederal and brightly coloured buildings and cobble stoned streets. It edges onto Lake Nicaragua which was less than lovely from this angle- it looked a bit like the north sea- unappealingly gray, polluted and, surprisingly, choppy! It was nice to be back in a city with lots of restaurant choices so we dined well that evening on tapas, steaks and red wine and got early nights to make up for the hangovers still lingering from the night before.

The next day was Chloe and James last and, as the weather was looking a bi toffy, we decided to just wander around and have a chilled out day. This proved easy enough to do in Granada as the main square is filled with pleasant buildings and street vendors so browsing and doing very little was an entirely pleasurable experience. After a nice lunch we somehow ended up in a spa and ended up having a blissful massage too which didn't hurt the general sense of chill about the day! We said a sad fairwell to Chloe and James and chilled out at the hotel before going out for another divine meal at a restaurant called Imagine that served delicioius and very imaginitive accompaniments to my steak.

When we woke up to sunshine the next day we decided to make the most of it by heading to a nearby volcanic crater lakelodge i had been told about by friends who had enjoyed it whilstin Grandada. I am SO glad we went as the day was positively divine! The lodge perched on the edge of a bright blue crater lake where we were able to take out kayaks and inner tubes and generally enjoy the sense of peace and tranquility that it offered. The lodge also employs a blind man who they have trained to give massages to gove him an income and, at 15 dollars an hour, it would have been rude not to! The rest of the time was spent sunbathing on the platform in the lake or just gazing at the scenery. The lake is surrounded by lush greenery and towering volcanoes and the sulphur makes the water a bright blue colour which just intensifies the rays of sun bouncing off it- truly beautiful!

We had decided to head to the island of Ometepe to see the twin volcanoes the nex so it was to be our lasty night in Grenada. Fully blissed out we enjoyed an awesome meal at a tapas fusion bar before flaking out in front of the TV in our room- a fully relaxing and wonderfully memorable day.