Advertisement
Published: April 15th 2013
And so Sagada marked the end of my time in the Cordilleras, as I took the 7h winding road back down south to Baguio for a quick overnighter, before proceeding on northwest to the Unesco World Heritage City of Vigan.
From Baguio, it was a pretty 6h drive along the western coast of North Luzon, on the expressway fronting the South China Sea. But after spending a week in the cool altitudes of the Cordilleras, back at sea-level, the oppressive heat of tropical Philippines became an unwelcome reality again.
Vigan is certainly different from the highland towns, somewhat akin to the Intramuros area of Manila, with its well-preserved Spanish colonial heritage and architecture, but without (too many) of the annoying incessant touts of the capital. Like the other Filipino cities I've visited outside the capital, the atmosphere is much more relaxed, perhaps thanks to the noticeably fewer firearms! It seems also to be a preferred destination for vacationing Filipinos.
Not exactly a small town, but not quite a large city either, Vigan's main streets can be mostly traversed in a day, including its pretty Crisologo street, along whose cobblestones traditional horse carriages still ply their trade.
Apart
from the obligatory visits to the few heritage mansions/ museums here, there wasn't all that much to do, so I spent the better part of my time here just resting from the recent long bus rides, catching up on some reading, and eating lotsa fast food (McDonald's, Chow King and Jollibee all adjacent to each other, a stone's throw from my hotel!)
Stayed at Vigan Hotel.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.283s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 43; dbt: 0.2102s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
