Grenada: Pretty Buildings, a Lake, Volcanoes and.. the Dutch?

From Somoto I headed to Grenada, León's colonial counterpart and rival (Managua was created as the capital in the 19th century to finally settle the struggle between the two).  Grenada was much prettier than León, though.

The main cathedral.  Can you say "pastels!"?

Because los Grenadeños sure can.

For a modest donation you could climb the bell tower.

Mmmm.. terracotta roof tiles.

The tower's name sake.  And some silly looking American in a bandanna.

Why do I love round windows so much?  No, really, tell me.  Because I don't know.

The rest of the city (or at least the old bits) maintained the pastel theme.

And I love the courtyard model.. those doors usually conceal lovely interior patios, often with a bit of a garden or a fountain.

 Speaking of doors.. long time readers will recall my fascination with all manners of portals, gates and entryways.  Quite frankly, I'm surprised I have only this one picture.  Grenada was chock-a-block with marvelous doors.

And an abandoned hospital!?  Are you shitting me?  Completely open and unfenced?

Sweet baby jeebus, yes.

Still beautiful, even in decay.

It was probably a good thing the sun was shining so brightly that day..

..because this place would have been spooky as hell at night, or even just in low light.

The place was huge, an entire city block.

It probably wasn't safe to be climbing anything.

But some of the views were pretty nice.

It was really wonderful how quickly nature was reclaiming a man made space.

Awww..

So cool.

Oh, look, another pastel church.

 This one had a funky/geometric/decrepit park out front.  That's.. different?

 There's a really nice lake a little ways outside town.

 It seemed like a weekend spot for locals, so midweek it was practically deserted.

It was a pretty great day.

Ooo.. fierce.

Also just outside of town are a series of volcanoes.

Smokin'.

Not the same lake from the day before, but who really cares?

We hiked up to the rim of the taller volcano.

For some reason there followed a fit of "arty" photos.

Dramatic, no?

Or Zen/arty, as the case may be.

The World Cup entered elimination rounds while I was in Grenada.

I ran into a whole passel of Dutch that I'd met in Guatemala.  It was great fun watching them watch their team do so well (they made it to the final).

The Dutch win!

Looking back on it, I had a really wonderful time in Grenada.