Revisiting...Vigan, Ilocos Sur

Now here's a historical trip. Vigan was a 2 nights, 3 day gimmick and it was expensive (ahahah). But it was all worth it. As you can see, the photos are more personalized. We finally had a camera with us to capture the moments (wink).

To start of, I would like to personally say that Vigan is really a unique place which portrays a mixture of Asian, Spanish and Latin American heritage. It was established in the 16th century and I think, it is the only existing Spanish Colonial town (the best preserved I guess) in Asia.

So at any rate, we stayed at the Vigan Plaza Hotel. It is situated right at the heart of the city and it was really convenient because you can already see the cobbled stones, the 300 plus old houses, the calesas hanging about, the plaza itself and the majestic St. Paul Cathedral just by standing outside your hotel!

Frankly, 3 days was not enough to go through the whole city. But nonetheless, we made sure that we could get to see the Bell Church, the old house of father Jose Bugos (one of the GOMBURZA celebrities), the school of Emilio Aguinaldo, we had a ride around the city using the classic calessa, and we even visited one of the resorts on the outskirts of the city (we had to ourselves again - giggle).

Then who could forget the prestigious Baluarte. Man! That place was a majestic zoo! it was my first time to see a real live tiger, to hold a chimp, to get close to a giant chicken (heheh - I meant ostrich), to see herds of mountain deers, watch dwarf ponnies, be afraid of the big male horse, and watch a big, big, big (did I say big?) snake eat it's breakfast (i think it was one whole chicken).

My goodness, I really can't put everyting to words. You have to be there to experience the thrill. At the same, I felt humbled as well, knowing that two hundred years ago, this city was ruled by foreigners. The locals were most likely opressed, forced to follow the dictates of a King who has not even set foot to this soil.
And now, this city is being admired...magical on it's own becasue anyone who visits could feel like they get transported back in time.

I suggest that you guys visit it. Explore the place by day and snuggle with ovey dove by night (wink)!