Cebu Travel

After visiting Bohol,we had a side trip in Cebu, the queen city of the south, last March 7-8. We boarded Ocean jet to Cebu and stayed at Mango Park Hotel..After lunch, we immediately went for the Cebu tour..Spell paguran di ba?

1st Stop: Lapu-lapu Shrine. This is a 20 meter bronze statue of our country's 1st hero. Siya ang chieftain who defeated the team of Magellan..Talagang atapang a tao no?! Well,there'e really nothing to see here--except the monument of course.Good thing there's a pasalubong area-where you can buy lots of goodies for an uber reasonable price--compared to the pasalubong areas in Bohol..=(

2nd Stop: We drived thru Beverly Hills,a premier community within the city (shoshal may BH sila!) and visited a Taoist Temple. It was some steps to go atop the Temple..and the view from there was great! There was one area that looked like the Great Wall.We had a doze of picture taking!

3rd stop: Magellan's Cross and Basilica Minore de Sto. Nino. Of course, we all know that Cebu's most famous landmark is the Magellan's Cross.It was erected by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Many years ago,they housed the cross on a chapel. This event started the Christianity in our country...talk about history there. Not far from the Cross is the Basilica Minore of Sto. Nino.It is the oldest in the province and features the relic of Sto. Nino de Cebu.

4th Stop: Fort San Pedro. Fort San Pedro is the oldest and smallest fort in the Philippines. Built by the Spaniards to repel sieges by hostile natives and Muslim pirates, the fort was deemed finished in 1738, some 200 years after it started construction. The fort’s name was taken from Legaspi’s flagship “San Pedro” in which he sailed the Pacific Ocean in 1565. Little was known about the fort from its construction in 1565 until it was mentioned in 1739 in an official report to King Philip II of Spain. BTW, there's an entrance of P21 here.

5th stop: Danggit buying. The bigger reason why most of my officemates wanted to visit Cebu- to buy danggit..Yes,they were more excited in this than visiting the places were we stopped. Danggit costs P500 per kilo there. After that most of them boarded our van smelling like danggit..Sweet pusit!

I really didn't fancy Cebu that much.It has lost it's 'province' feel..It's like being in Manila lang..The river is dirty,squatters along the way,beggars asking for one peso (and will call you pangit when you are not able to give)..We came across at least 5 vagrants in one particular area..Plus it's much hotter there..I was in the Lapu-lapu shrine for not more than an hour,and it seems I've just stepped out of the shower..I was literally sweating-half of my polo was wet!

I'm not sure if the other areas are like this(hopefully not).I could have appreciated Cebu had we visited their famous beaches..maybe on my next trip..that is..kung babalik pa ako..so there..