Tag: cathedral

5 Curaçao Rainy Day Activities

It’s rainy season in Curaçao which means day after day of downpours. Want to know what to do on this Caribbean island when the weather is bad? Here are 5 Curaçao rainy day activities, so you can still have fun without the sun.

Curaçao rain
Rainy day view from our boat in Curaçao

Curaçao Museum

Housed in a pretty former hospital building in the heart of Willemstad’s UNESCO historic district, The Curaçao Museum‘s collection honors the island’s history.

Curaçao Museum
Curaçao Museum

Art, crafts and furniture fill up the main building, but the highlight of the museum is the old airplane in the hangar in the back. So either bring your umbrella for the run through the raindrops, or find a break in the rain because you want to see the tiny aircraft in the shed. The Snip carried 4 crew and Christmas mail from Europe to the Caribbean in the 1930s, marking the first KLM trans-Atlantic mail flight, which took 8 days. They had to take off the wings to fit it in the barn, but it’s a cool exhibit and story.

The Curaçao Museum is located in Otrabanda Willemsted.

Snip plane 5 Curaçao rainy day activities
The Snip at the Curaçao Museum

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Exploring Estelí Nicaragua

Estelí is a big city in the northern highlands of Nicaragua. It feels smaller than León, but I think that’s mainly because the traffic is better. In León, I always felt like I was about to be hit by a car (pedestrians do NOT have the right of way here!). Estelí traffic is better because the streets are mostly one way which makes exploring Estelí Nicaragua easy peasy.

getting to know estelí

I had plenty of time to get to know Estelí today, so I walked around town for a bit, went to a museum and visited the cathedral.

estelí street art

There is a quite a bit of street art in town. I am not sure if it’s a direct result of the political importance of this town during the revolution (it was a Sandinista stronghold), or just lots of artists. The variety is really engaging and it made for a fun day looking for more murals.

Mural Esteli
Mural Esteli
Mural exploring Esteli
Robot Mural Estelí
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Free Leon City Tour

León is an interesting city to walk around, but it’s always better to have a guide! I happened to find a new company that offers free walking tours every morning so I signed up. Here’s my experience on the free Leon City tour.

About the Tour

The tour lasted 90 minutes and covered the centre of the city. I learned more about the history of the city and the country and saw some of the murals depicting these stories. On the tour with me were a Canadian couple and 3 Germans, which is not surprising! Germans and Canadians are the most common tourists in Nicaragua right now.

City of Churches

I already mentioned the enormous amount of churches here, and the guide, Sebastian, pointed out León is known as a city of churches. This is because there are 2 Catholic churches per neighbourhood here. I don’t know why that’s necessary but the churches are pretty to look at and have some crazy icons inside.

He also informed us that the main cathedral, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, has tunnels to 5 different churches in the city. These were created to fend off pirates!

Cathedral de Leon a stop on our free Leon City Tour
Crypt entrance in the Cathedral of León
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A Day and a Half in León Nicaragua

After a day and a half in León, I like it. It’s a pretty town with some beautiful churches. A lot of pretty churches. So many, that I can’t keep track of which ones I’ve visited. There’s also a lot of museums, street art, and history here. This morning I am going on a walking tour of the city, so I should learn more about all of those things! In the meantime, I have been taking photos and soaking up the vibes of León.

León Churches

I visited some of the churches, including the fairy tale pretty Iglesia el Calvario and the more traditional Iglesia El Merced.

Iglesia El Calvario
The pretty Iglesia El Calvario

Finally, yesterday afternoon I explored the rooftop of the Cathedral of León. Barefoot. That’s right, once you step out onto the roof, you have to take off your shoes so as not to damage or taint the surface. It is very white! It was a very cool feeling exploring the roof of a cathedral barefoot. I don’t know if I’ll do it again, and for $1.25, it was fun! As there are no tall buildings here, the view from the cathedral roof was lovely, so I took lots of photos.

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