City Detail

El Viejo is a city and a municipality in the Chinandega department of Nicaragua. El Viejo is a small city near the city of Chinandega, noted for its particular gastronomic specialties, which include rosquillas (a type of doughnut), cajetas (a type of dulce de leche), bollitos de leche (a kind of scone), and a fruit particular to the region called the toncua, which is related to the papaya and is eaten with honey. El Viejo is also the site of a colonial-era church, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in El Viejo (Basílica Inmaculada Concepción de María en El Viejo), built in the 17th century. The image was crowned by the Pope in May 1989 via decree from December 1988. The church was elevated to the status of national religious sanctuary on 8 October 1995, and was declared a minor basilica on February 7, 1996 by Pope John Paul II, during his second visit to Nicaragua.