Advertisement
Published: April 27th 2011
Edit Blog Post
April 9-11 -- My friends and I had a vacation at the Queen City of the South and Philippines' oldest city: Cebu. We stayed at Hotel Cesario, just beside Bellavista Hotel.
After landing in Mactan International Airport at around 6 AM and leaving our bags at the hotel (the check-in time was 2 PM but the guys at the hotel was kind enough to let us leave our bags), we went to Magellan's Marker and Lapulapu Shrine. To get there, we rode a multicab with a Punta Engaño sign. Magellan's Marker was built in 1866 to mark the spot where Lapulapu and his men killed the Portuguese explorer during the Battle of Mactan in April 27, 1521.
From a historical place, we then went to see some of Cebu's famous guitars: Alegre and Susing's. This was something, being a guitar player and fan myself. We get to see how gutars are hand-made. I was really itching to buy one, but then again I promised myself I won't because I already have 3.
Our next stop was early lunch at Maribago Grill then back to the hotel to check-in.
4 PM, we were off to Tops which is
in Busay, about 45 mins to 1 hr from our hotel. The taxi driver charged us 1,000 pesos to take us there, wait for us for 2 hours and take us SM City Cebu. There was a 100-peso entrance fee at Tops which I think is a liitle too much because there really isn't something there but a few benches and a bell. But the view of the city from here was refreshing.
Back to the city, we went to SM City Cebu to buy some junk food and beers. We had dinner at Jonie's and dessert at Gelatissimo, which is interestingly P20 cheaper in Cebu than their branches here in Metro Manila.
The next day we went first to Fort (Fuerza) San Pedro, the oldest fort in the Philippines first built in 1565 then finished in 1738. The fort was named after Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's flagship, San Pedro. The tour guide there told us that cannon's there are still in working condition and two of them are actually being fired during the Sinulog Festival.
Next, we went to Magellan's Cross which is just in front of Cebu City Hall. The cross has a mark, "This
Cross of Tindalo Wood Encases the Original Cross Planted By Ferdinand Magellan On This Very Site April 21, 1521." The encasing cross was supposedly made to prevent the devotees to chip away parts of the original cross because of its miraclous powers but some people believe the original cross was already destroyed.
Beside Magellan's Cross, is the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño. According to the Church's official website -- The convent of the Sto. Niño de Cebu was founded by Fr. Andres de Urdaneta on April 28, 1565, the very day the Legazpi-Urdaneta expedition arrived in the island. On May 8 of the same year, when Legaspi and his men planned the urbanization of the city, they allotted a "place for the church and the convent of San Agustin, "where the Santo Niño image had been found."
We then took a walk to Colon Street, Philippines' oldest named street and then to the Heritage of Cebu Monument, which showcases the signiificant and symbolic events in Cebu's history. The monument was inaugurated in December 8, 2000. Not far away from the monument is Casa Gorordo, which is the house of the first Filipino Bishop, Juan Gorordo. The house is
now a public museum.
After taking a trip of Cebu's history, we went to a Taoist Temple. The temple was built by the chinese Community in Cebu to be a center of worship for Taoist devotees. There is a nice view of the city from here since the temple is about 300 meters above sea level.
Next, we headed to CnT Lechon for some heart-stopping, cholesterol-filled Lechon. It was so tasty I had to remind myself that I'm getting older. Well, that's a bit exaggerated but I wasn't kidding on the Lechon being delicious.
When we made sure were still alive, we went to Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral to attend 7 PM English mass. The Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral is the ecclesiastical seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cebu in Cebu which was elevated to metropolitan archdiocese on April 28, 1934.
There was no itenerary the next day except to buy some pasalubong so I took an early morning walk to Marcelo Fernan Bridge, one of the 2 bridges that link Mactan Island to Cebu Island (the other one is the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge). The bridge was just a few meters away from the hotel. After this little detour,
we went to Taboan Market to buy some danggit, dried mangoes, etc. It might be a good idea to change your clothes after going to this market as the smell of dried fish can stick to you, especially if you are going to the airport afterwards, which we were.
--
http://peckergreen.multiply.com/
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 17; qc: 64; dbt: 0.0542s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb