Manila's heritage

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Hi all,

My last blog saw us waiting to flag down a coach to Cebu City from Oslob. Well, this soon happened and after about 5 hours we were back and a short taxi ride took us the 'Beds and Friends' hotel close by the airport with free transfer bus for our early check-in tomorrow morning. We were a bit anxious about this place largely becaise of its name. Was it a euphemism for a knocking shop? Would we enter our room to find a 'friend' tucked up in bed waiting for us? Well, we needn't have worried. In fact it was one of the best places we stayed at in terms of being clean, modern and functional with rooftop pool to boot. There was even a friendly stray cat which had 3 tiny kitties hidden away at the bottom of a large urn by the front door and - yup, you guessed it, we ended up buying cat food to help her produce enough milk for her kitties. In fact I even dashed into the local market at 6am the following day to buy one last tin of tuna before our flight to Manila - guess I'm just an old softie!

So - Manila and our last day before flying to Hong Kong at 5.30 the next morning. We checked into the Belmont hotel which is literally across the footbridge to T3 - perfect for strolling in at that ungodly hour. This hotel was a bit disappointing compared to the apartments we'd rented around the corner. Firstly, it was more expensive. Then the room itself was very narrow and had a few issues that took time to resolve like an intermittent piping every few minutes which turned out to be from the safe which needed new batteries. Then there was the shower which completely flooded the bathroom floor and the rooftop pool, which we were so looking forward to, was ruined by overloud live music blasting our eardrums - not exactly the serene sundowner moment we were looking for on our last night. However, I am getting ahead of myself.... We'd arrived in Manila at about 10am and the hotel allowed an immediate check-in whereas the apartments charged extra for each hour that you were early. So the Belmont it was.
Now, as I've got older I've grown less and less fond of huge cities in developing countries largely because they are congested, polluted hell holes where the few architectural gems that are still there are scattered about the place necessitating an exhausting day of point-to-point travel. Consequently, when choosing what to do with our last day, we decided to concentrate on Chinatown & Intramuros - but it did not start well!
Our taxi dropped us at the art-deco First United Building in Chinatown where the driver proceeded to inflate the Grab taxi fare by adding on toll charges. We felt this was a bit underhand as we hadn't asked him to take the toll road and the Grab app is supposed to quote a fixed price. I started to try and explain but then decided not to waste time with a scene on our last day so just paid him the extra and we got out.
Now, much of Manila was bombed in WWII yet this 1920s art-deco building survived and is now home to a cooperative of artists that are re-injecting life into this area which, over the years, has become a bit run down.. A few minutes walk down the same street is the beaux-arts Calvo Building. We walked past this several times before realising that the row of advertising billboards that were in your face were actually pinned all over it. From here it was a 10 minute walk to the Church of the Black Nazarene (Quiapo church) This houses a life-size statue of Christ carved from ebony which is believed to be holy. Twice a year (9 Jan & the week before Easter) this statue is carried through the streets amongst thousands of devotees all eager to touch the statue and receive divine grace. From the photos I've seen of this, it looks incredible though I would hate to be stuck in the crowd. Frankly, I'm amazed people aren't trampled.
After these 3 sites we took a rickshaw by balancing on the tiniest of seats that had been added on each side of the driver as there were already passengers in the canopy behind him. (Missed a great photo op here, I'm sorry to say)This took us over to Intramuros and Manila Cathedral: rebuilt in 1951 as it was bombed during the Battle of Manila in WWII. The rosette stained glass windows inside are particularly impressive. From here we walked to San Augustin Church (the only building left standing after the bombing of Intramuros in WWII and the oldest church in the country: built 1587 - 1606) Here we came upon a wedding so we couldn't go inside but it was lovely to observe from the doorway. It was a splendidly elegant affair with a beautiful vintage car waiting to whisk bride and groom off to their honeymoon.
Almost next door to this church is Casa Manila a Spanish colonial-style house filled with exquisite antique furniture - we both absolutely loved it - well worth the small admission fee. Interestingly, it was Imelda Marcos: the lady of many shoes (there is actually a museum showcasing her shoes but it was miles away and we didn’t have time to visit) who had this place built and although the house is a reconstruction, the furniture is all genuine.
There were a few other interesting buildings: City Hall, the National Museum & the Don Ramon Santos Building that we managed to photograph whilst passing but perhaps the most striking was the innovative Magallanes Church with its 13 roof vaults (representing Jesus and the 12 Apostles).
Back at the hotel, we managed to grab a couple of sunset shots from the rooftop pool area before the live music drove us away. Then it was a quick 5 min stroll into the airport terminal for a pricey but delicious thin base pizza before retiring for the night in readiness for our 5.30 flight the next day.

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