South of the old centre Travel Video Guide

South of the old centre Travel Itinerary

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Behind the Hotel Inter-Continental , a path winds upwards to the Laguna de Tiscapa , a small and unremarkable lake in the centre of the city. The views of the city are excellent, however, stretching north to Lago de Nicaragua and the distant volcanoes and south beyond the new cathedral towards Masaya. The area around Laguna de Tiscapa is loaded with historical importance: the presidential palace used to be situted here and the large, silhouetted statue of Sandino marks the spot of the revolutionary leader's assassination. The Somoza regime also built torture chambers near the lake.

About 1km south of the laguna is Managua's biggest concentration of residential and commercial neighbourhoods. The main thoroughfare through this southern part of the city is the Carretera a Masaya , bordered to the west by the university area and to the east by residential and shopping districts; this is also where you'll find the Metrocentro shopping centre, which boasts shops, a food court, banks, a modern cinema and the Inter-Continental Metro Centro hotel (not to be confused with the original Hotel Inter-Continental on the edge of the barrio Martha Quezada). A short walk from Metrocentro, in the middle of a field, is the unmissable Catedral Metropolitana de la Purisima Concepcion, known simply as the Catedral Nueva , a remarkably unorthodox piece of architecture whose roof resembles a collection of large concrete hand- grenades. The interior is rather stark, with a bleeding figure of Christ encased in glass being the only interesting feature.

A further 1km south from the Metrocentro along Carretera a Masaya is the

embassy neighbourhood of Altamira , the focus for new commercial and hotel construction in the city, which has a number of hotels, cafes, Internet offices and a good selection of international restaurants popular with the district's expat residents. A few kilometres further south on the Carretera a Masaya is the campus of the Universidad Centroamericana, or La UCA , as it's generally known, a tranquil place by Managuan standards, just off the major road to Leon and points north.

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