Day 24: All hail the Prom Queen (Granada)

If Nicaragua was secondary school, Granada would be the good-looking captain of the netball team whose face adorns the front page of the website.

It's a picture-perfect city, reclining in colonial splendour on the edge of Lake Nicaragua. Dating back to the 1500s, the Spanish were apparently keen for Granada to be an architectural showpiece and it shows.

To borrow from The Streets, Granada is fit but it knows it.

The city has embraced tourism and it's the only place I've been where tours and excursions are actively touted on the street, albeit in a laid back Nicaraguan way.

The visitors here are well-heeled compared to everywhere else I've been. It's like everybody was told to dress up and I didn't get the memo, so I was quite the scruff bag as I motored round in the heat taking it all in.

Granada is a photographer's dream; with a shining yellow cathedral, four imposing churches and row upon row of brightly painted shops and homes.

It really is the Prom Queen of Nicaragua and this got me thinking about the other places I've visited...

Esteli with its murals would be the quirky artist, Jiquilillo would be the laid back surfer dude or dudette, Leon would be the revolutionary plotting to overthrow the headteacher and Ometepe would be the eco-warrior campaigning to have composting toilets installed.

On reflection, I'm really pleased I extended my trip in Ometepe because while Granada is beautiful and somewhere that should firmly remain on everyone's 'must-see' list, you really don't need that long.

For me, hot and sticky Leon, full of history, verve and passion is Nicaragua's true first city.

Saying that, nobody says 'no' to a night or two with the Prom King/Queen do they?!