I had a full day tour from Managua to visit two Nicaraguan World Heritage Sites, the two Leon. After breakfast, a driver picked me up from the hotel to Leon Viejo with a brief stop to see the mighty volcano of Momotombo. The ruins were in the small village that my guide from Leon whom I met at the junction before the village entrance said, “a perfect place to admire Nicaraguan way of life”. He took me to see the small museum which I learnt that Leon Viejo is actually built by native Americans before the arrival of Spanish and after befriended with and enslaved the locals, the newcomer built the western styled town and lived together with natives, so Leon Viejo was quite very unique in the history of colonial city foundation.     

If the story of city foundation was quite unique, the ending of the city was far stranger. According to my guide, the city lord had an argument with the priest and killed him. Later the Momotombo erupted which caused locals to believe that god hated this city because of killing priest was the great sin, so with bad omens, they decided to abandon the city and move to present day Leon. They also dismantled the city for construction material, that why noting much left to see at Leon Viejo. My guide took me the see the whole ruins, the atmosphere was peaceful as I was the only tourist. Most of the ruins I saw were just building foundation covered by concrete and noting interesting. The statue of native with attacking dog was a reminder of brutality of Spanish together with church’s ruins and the view of Momotombo from the old fort were the best sites.

Since I visited on early morning, the cool breeze from the lake really made the sightseeing enjoyable. Combining Leon Viejo with Leon Cathedral in the same day from Managua was also highly recommended as these two sites provided the complete early story of the city of Leon. The highway from the capital was also very good, probably the best I experienced in Central America, except dirt roads inside the Leon Viejo village. All in all, a fine World Heritage Site to make a good detour in surprising Nicaragua.