Granada<\/a>, Le\u00f3n is one of the oldest cities in Central America with a Spanish-colonial past. The city is extremely welcoming and authentic. An exploration often begins with an extended city walk, where all the senses are stimulated by the colors, smells and sounds of markets, facades, alleys, churches and parks. By the time you look out over the city from the Cathedral of Le\u00f3n, you are captured by the magic of this city. It is a place to linger longer than planned to soak up the vibrant culture and sway along to the relaxed rhythm of the day.<\/p>\nFlourishing university and fascinating museums<\/h3>\n
The University of Le\u00f3n is the oldest and also one of the best universities in Nicaragua. Not only is the city’s atmosphere helped by its many students, surrounding it are many cultural activities and events that celebrate life, its rich traditions and its – sometimes turbulent – history. During the city walk, did you see the many murals? At the Museo de la Revoluci\u00f3n, you will find text and explanations about the Nicaraguan revolution and struggle for independence. In a former prison you will find the Museum of Traditions and Legends, where you will be playfully taken to tales of golden crocodiles, the headless priest and the bewitched pig. For a fascinating introduction to Nicaragua’s most famous poet, wander through the Museum Rub\u00e9n Dario, a beautiful colonial house filled with ancient utensils, manuscripts and photographs.<\/p>\n
Also visit the ruins of Le\u00f3n Viejo<\/strong>, the original site of the current city of Le\u00f3n that lies 30 kilometers west. That first place, however, was ravaged by lack of drinking water and violent eruptions of the Momotombo<\/strong> volcano, causing residents to relocate to the indigenous town of Subtiava. That name faded into the background when the Spanish colonists determined that this was the new Le\u00f3n. The ruins of Le\u00f3n Viejo are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish-colonial monuments, a thriving university and fascinating museums<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":312,"featured_media":325629,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"country":[353],"highlight_category":[600],"continent_category":[224],"class_list":["post-325637","highlights","type-highlights","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","country-nicaragua","highlight_category-hoogtepunt-en","continent_category-latin-america"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights\/325637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/highlights"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/312"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325637"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights\/325637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325645,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights\/325637\/revisions\/325645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=325637"},{"taxonomy":"highlight_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlight_category?post=325637"},{"taxonomy":"continent_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/continent_category?post=325637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}