Cycling The Globe

A Cycle Touring Expedition Around The World

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Day 1697, Rivas – Managua: Colonial Style

Posted by Thomas Andersen Posted on Jun - 13 - 2015

Distance: 113.2 km
Ride time: 5:31:26
Average: 20.5 km/h
Max speed: 47.9 km/h
Total: 35728 km

Everything is very compact here in Nicaragua. Yesterday night I had left the beautiful Island of Ometepe. Today the plan was to cycle to the old colonial city of Granada, have lunch at the square, and then continue to the capital Managua. That’s a lot of sights in 24 hours.

The original Granada in Spain is one of my favourite cities in the World. I spent 6 months there as a student back in 2006. In the Granada of Nicaragua I would only have a few hours – enough to cycle around to take some photos in the beautiful city center.

Granada is famous for the fact that it was founded in 1524 and as such considered the first European city in mainland North America. It reminded me a lot of Cartagena down at the Caribbean coast of Colombia – another of the very early Spanish cities in Latin America.

After my lunch at the square I continued towards the current capital Managua. At my hostel I met Peter from Germany who is riding his motorbike from New York to Ushuaia. Incredibly it had only taken Peter two and a half weeks to ride all the way from New York to Nicaragua. It will take me a little longer to go up there by bicycle…

In contrast to Granada, Managua doesn’t really have any sights. In fact Peter and I had a hard time finding a restaurant for dinner. In the end we managed to find a food court in a shopping center after wondering of the people of Managua eat at all.

It was nice sharing thoughts with Peter about being on the road. I got a few tips for places to visit in the rest of Central America. Happy riding Peter!

Categories: Nicaragua
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5 Responses so far.

  1. Suzanne Jager says:

    I am so enjoying all your posts on your travels/adventure!!! I love being able to follow all you wonderful people traveling around the globe either on a bike or a trike, lets me see what the world has to offer while sitting in my living room!!! Thank you so much Thomas for posting all your beautiful pictures and blogs!!! Please keep safe!

  2. Hi Suzanne! Thanks for the nice words. It takes a bit of time and effort to keep the blog updated, so I’m happy to know you enjoy the virtual ride 🙂 Best wishes from Guatemala! Thomas

  3. Scott Ellington says:

    I know it’s a primitive mode of communication, but I just made a contact with Thomas in Guatemala by amateur radio. Besides many previous radio contacts, I met Thomas in 2013 as I was starting my own bicycle tour in New Zealand.

  4. Hi Scott. Thanks for the nice CW QSO the other day. I’m visiting TG9AJR here in Guatemala City. It was interesting to read your stories from Australia. Sounded like a great trip. Our next contact might be from the US. I just got a US call as well: K9DXX. 73, Thomaas