Ivan About TownIvan About TownWhere in the world is Ivan? Travel and heritage notes of a Pinoy backpacker. Your travel guide around the Philippines and beyond. 
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Valencia Cathedral and the Holy Grail
2008-05-30 20:05:00 Within the old city walls of Valencia alone, there are dozens of old churches all stunning in their own right. At the center of all these churches in the Catedral Basilica Metropolitana de Santa Maria or the Valencia Cathedral . Founded in the 13th century, it incorporates several architectural styles (its exterior is mostly Gothic but the main entrance is lavishly Baroque), and houses a large number of artistic and religious treasures.One of those treasures is said to be the Holy Grail which has a long history. Legend has it that St. Peter transferred the grail to Rome in the first century. It was then brought by St. Lawrence to Huesca, Spain together with Pope Sixtus II in the 3rd century when they escaped the persecution of Emperor Valerian. The cup was hidden in various places during the Muslim invasion that started in 712 A.D., finally finding itself in the monastery of San Juan de la Peña. It was given to King Martin of Aragon who kept it in the royal palace in Saragossa, and l... More About: Holy Grail
Alicante, a vibrant Mediterranean getaway
2008-05-30 18:26:00 Alicante is such a charming Mediterranean city and a popular tourist getaway being the center of Costa Blanca. After exploring Elche in the morning, I decided to breeze through Alicante in the afternoon before proceeding back to Valencia. Ever since I was a child, Alicante had been very familiar to us since we had a granduncle, a retired diplomat, who lived there. Sadly, he passed away last year even before I could meet him.The capital of Alicante (Alacant) Province, the city was described by the Valencian author Joan Fuster as the most pleasant city in the Valencian Region, ?the city you would choose to live in if you had to exchange your village for a town.? Its more than 3,000 years of history was evident in its rich architectural heritage.I immediately noticed the Castillo de Sta. Barbara perched on top of Monte Tossal. There are buses that take you up the hill to visit the castle. The city hall of Alicante is a gem of Baroque civil architecture. Equally impressive are Alicante?... More About: Spain , Getaway , Alicante
Requena's bodegas, vinos and cava
2008-05-30 14:48:00 Requena gave us a glimpse into the wine culture of Spain . It is a municipality in the Valencian comarca of Utiel-Requena which is said to have a viticulture tradition that is more than two thousand years old.We visited the bodega or wine cellar of Torre Oria. Founded by the Oria de Rueda family in 1897, it's one of the most popular wine cellars in the Valencian Region and receives a lot of visitors. Tours are by appointment.Our visit started at the palace-house of the wine cellar designed by Jose Donderis in the early 1900s. The cava (champagne) and wine-making process was explained to us before we proceeded to the production room, cava tunnels, and barrel warehouse. But the highlight of the tour was the cava-tasting which sent all of us buying bottles to take back with us to the Philippines.After the tour, we proceeded to downtown Requena for lunch. Our host family had mentioned to us that the specialty of the place was chorizo and embutido so we made sure to order some. I was exp...
One lucky person will win six SEAIR gift-certificates to Busuanga!
2008-05-30 04:07:00 We are giving away not one, not two, but six SEAIR gift certificates to Busuanga to one lucky person! This is the biggest give-away of Ivan About Town and the SEAIR Adventure Club ever! You and five friends can fly to Busuanga with six SEAIR airfare gift certificates up for grabs!SEAIR has been providing the longest-running uninterrupted service to Busuanga, and now provides the fastest flights with its Dornier 328 aircraft.So how do you join? All you have to do is tell us why you want to go to Busuanga via SEAIR, by Friday, 20 June 2008, at 8:00 p.m. You can use your personal blog, Multiply, Friendster, or any other social networking site, or any website for that matter for as long as your entry has a link to the SEAIR website. The entry which best captures the attention of our judges will get the 6 gift certificates!To let us know you joined this contest, post the link of your entry as a comment in SEAIR starts 35-minute flights to Northern Palawan . Like the previous raffle, make ... More About: Gift , Lucky , Person , Certificates
Hello from Barcelona!
2008-05-19 14:16:00 I´m currently experiencing some technical difficulties and won´t be able to fix this until I get back to the Philippines. So in the meantime, check out my photo albums:05/10 Requena, Spain 05/10-12 Valencia, Spain05/14 Elche, Spain05/14 Alicante, Spain05/15 Valencia, Spain05/17 Barcelona , Spain
Palmeral de Elche, a palm forest within a city
2008-05-14 16:50:00 Elche (Elx in Valencian) is host to two cultural treasures, the Palm eral de Elche (Elx Palm Groves) which is in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and the Misteri d'Elx which was declared one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. And the good thing was it was just two hours and 30 minutes from Valencia. So I decided to make a day trip to Elche and Alicante.The RENFE (train) ticket to Elx-Parc cost me 13,45?. I got on the 7:04 a.m. trip arriving at 9:32 a.m. Had I gotten an earlier trip, it would have posed a problem since the first trips on the Metro usually start at 6 a.m. And I would have been forced to take an expensive cab! Trains leave on the dot so don't even try to arrive a minute later.As soon as I arrived, I immediately looked for the tourism office to get a map. Elche's old quarter is an easy walk and the map conveniently suggests two routes around the city center and the palm groves.Indeed, Elche is an urban forest of palm trees which create... More About: City , Forest
Virgen de los Desamparados of Valencia, Spain
2008-05-11 16:03:00 Every second Sunday of May, Valencia comes alive with the feast of the Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados. Our stay coincided with the big celebration, most of which are centered in the Plaza de la Virgen. It would have been a really great event with religous festivities and bullfights scheduled. But it was raining. And it never rains during the fiesta! Is this global warming at work? It was good though that some major events still pushed through. Festivities usually begin the night before the fiesta or the visperas.The bullfight or corrida I was supposed to watch in the afternoon was canceled even if it was not raining since the ground was too soft and therefore not safe for the matadors. In fact, the matadors were all dressed for the event.So I then proceeded to the Cathedral to check out the festivities. And I got to attend a Mass celebrated by His Eminence Agustín Cardinal García-Gasco y Vicente, Archbishop of Valencia.It was good the weather cooperated up until the evening even... More About: Spain
Paella in Valencia!
2008-05-08 11:14:00 Where else to have paella other than in Valencia where it's from! That's right, paella is a Valencian rice dish which is quite popular here in the Philippines. They say the traditional Valencian paella is not made with pollo (chicken) but with conejo (rabbit). Yes, you read right, rabbit!We were looking for a great value restaurant to savor paella in Valencia since it's quite pricey given that rice here is expensive. And we finally found our restaurant called NECO Buffet de Cocina Mediterranea. Not only did they have two kinds of paella served in humongous paelleras in their buffet. They had a host of other Mediterranean dishes and desserts as well, all for the price of 10?, not bad given that in most restaurants, paella could go as much as 15 to 20?. And that's just one serving! So the buffet was a great deal. More About: Food , Spain , Paella
Have you tasted Filipinos?
2008-05-05 21:42:00 It was amusing to find out that in Spain , there is a commercial brand of biscuits called Filipinos ! The standard Filipinos biscuit is ring-shaped and coated in either white, milk or dark chocolate. It is said that the biscuits were inspired by the rosquillos of Iloilo and Negros hence the name Filipinos. Its manufacturer added a twist by coating it with different kinds of chocolate.They also sell Filipinos Agujeros or the holes of the biscuits coated in dark or white chocolate, as well as Filipinos Bigsticks. I found it equally amusing that Filipinos are sold alongside popular cookie brands such as Oreo and ChipsAhoy! But it was not amusing that a former administration made a big fuss out of it by filing a diplomatic protest saying that the use of "Filipinos" for a commercial brand was insulting. The Foreign Affairs secretary reluctantly filed the protest saying that he saw nothing wrong with the use of "Filipinos" as a brand name and pointed out that Austrians don't complain that ... More About: Food
Cuenca, Spain and its casas colgadas
2008-05-04 16:45:00 We ventured into the land of Don Quixote, the region of Castilla-La Mancha! We were off to the city of Cuenca , Spain a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built in between two gorges, this fortress city is perfectly integrated into the marvelous natural landscape around it. Thus, the character of Cuenca is dictated by this breathtaking harmony between architecture and nature. The trip from Valencia was close to three hours.Be prepared for a lot of walking up and down the narrow roads of this fortress town. Cuenca is actually divided into two areas, the low quarter which is the modern area that sprung up in the 19th Century. And the medieval city located on top of the rugged promontory between the Huécar and Júcar Rivers.We started our walking tour at the Huécar River Gorge which offers dramatic views of the Convento de San Pablo and the Casas Colgadas, the hanging houses which Cuenca has become known for. There are accounts which say the houses have Muslim roots. Others say that they date b...
Jávea in Costa Blanca and more from Spain's Mediterranean coast
2008-05-03 15:03:00 Jávea (Xàbia in Valencian) is a coastal town in the province of Alicante, Spain . It's about an hour from Valencia and we went there for our first out-of-town excursion. There was a fiesta in town today since every May 3, Jávea celebrates the feast of the Nazareno. It's the day when the image of the Nazareno is returned from the San Bartolome Church to the Calvary Chapel. But we weren't able to watch the procession since it was still in the evening and we would be back in Valencia by then.The streets of the town were also decorated with bright and colorful crosses made of flowers since Spain celebrates the Cruces de Mayo (Creus de maig in Valencian) also on May 3. I enjoyed walking around the narrow streets of the town since they gave you the feeling of age.Listed as a National Historic Monument of Spain in 1931, the fortress-church Church of San Bartolome (Església de Sant Bertomeu) dates back to the late 14th Century and is one of the finest examples of Late Valencian Gothic arc... More About: Costa , Coast , Mediterranean
Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias is Valencia's city of the future
2008-05-01 13:21:00 We decided to visit the museum complex of Valencia, the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, today since May 1 is a holiday here in Spain as well. This wonderful collection of futuristic architecture by Santiago Calatrava is a showcase of modern Spain. A complex of monumental beauty, it was built in the old riverbed of the Turia and is the largest cultural-educational complex in Europe.The complex has several component structures, the newest of which is the Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts or Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, inaugurated in 2006. The structure which looks like a ship sailing in the ocean, has been a venue for events related to the arts.For today, we visited the different museums namely the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe, L'Hemisfèric, and the Oceanográfico. It was good that we were able to get the student group rate which is 15,50? for the three attractions. The regular package rate is 30,60? while if you enter them individually, it's 7,50? for L'Hemisfèric, 7,5... More About: Future , The Future , City
Costa de Valencia along the Mediterranean
2008-04-30 12:11:00 Valencia is one of the major cities found along the Mediterranean coast of Spain . In fact, it is said to be a prototype of big Mediterranean cities which are fertile, productive, luminous and commercially astute. It would be a pity if we did not check out its beaches. So we visited Playa de Levante.Levante Beach is just a few minutes from the city center. In fact, there is a Metro station to it. It's right beside the port yet it remains clean and pollution free. Paseo de Neptuno (Passeig de Neptu in Valencian) is a walkway along the beach known for its row of restaurants. It's a relaxing stroll especially on warm afternoons.As much as we would have wanted to swim, at 20 degrees Celsius, the temperature was just too low for tropical denizens like us. So we were content hanging out enjoying the Mediterranean breeze. Before leaving, we had more horchata at an heladeria (ice cream store). This time, it was horchata con helado (with ice cream). I spent an additional 1? for the scoop of... More About: Valencia , Costa
La Lonja de la Seda, Valencia's old silk market
2008-04-29 14:45:00 La Lonja de la Seda or the silk exchange market in Valencia, Spain is one of the most outstanding monuments of Spanish Gothic architecture and was thus inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996. Also known as La Lonja de los Mercaderes, it was where commercial transactions related to silk were carried out.One of its most outstanding features is the impressive hall of pillars which was completed in only fifteen years from 1483 to 1498. It?s a grand space crowned by ribbed vault ceilings supported by two rows of sixteen-meter pillars that look like palm trees.If you take a closer look at La Lonja, you will notice detailed ornamentation on the building and its façade composed of hundreds of symbolic and grotesque figures. The building is right in front of the Central Market and entrance is free of charge. More About: Silk
Horchata in Valencia, Spain
2008-04-29 10:40:00 We went back to the old Valencia in the afternoon, this time with the rest of the group for a walking tour with some teachers. We used the Valencia Metro again which is why the multiple trip tickets come in handy and much cheaper. The cost of a single trip in Zone A or the inner city is 1,20?. But you can purchase a ten trip ticket for 6,10?.Our walk started at the Torres de Serrano, once the main gateof the city and one of two remaining gates from old Valencia. When the city expanded in the 19th Century, they got rid of the old city walls and most of the gates. We made our way through the same attractions and ended up at the Plaza de Toros where bullfights are held. Again, we were lucky because of the upcoming fiesta, there are bullfights scheduled. So we?ll be buying tickets to that.After the tour, we chilled out (quite literally since it was cold and started to drizzle) at the horchateria in Plaza Sta. Catalina, one of the older and more popular horchaterias in Valencia. Horchata... More About: Spain
Walking around old Valencia
2008-04-28 12:16:00 The day after we arrived in Valencia , we went straight to the old city for a stroll. The city has conveniently marked important places of interest in the maps they give out such as churches and other religious structures (there were just so many of them that I felt sad we lost our own Intramuros during WWII), government and other civic structures, museums and parks.We took the Metro to the Colon station in Valencia viejo. And from there, made our way around the old district. This is a wonderful collection of built heritage from various periods since the city was founded in 157 B.C. Our first stop was the Ayuntamiento de Valencia (city hall) and the grand plaza in front of it.While walking, we passed by the Iglesia de San Martin where Mass was being said. So we stayed. A few meters down the road is the towering belfry of Sta. Catalina and its Medieval church. In Plaza Sta. Catalina, there is a popular horchatería. Horchata (or orxata in Valencian), is a sweet drink made of tigernuts ... More About: Spain , Walking
Madrid to Valencia by bus
2008-04-27 19:19:00 Taking the bus from Madrid to Valencia was a great way for us to see the Spanish countryside. We had been traveling for over 24 hours now and this last leg would take four more hours. There are two types, the Normal [22,89?] and Express [28,95?]. They are both four hours but I was told that the Express has wider and more comfortable seats. So we took the Express. Most of what I saw was agricultural land. But we'd pass by small towns quite often, many of which have preserved their character through the years. We were also warned to watch our luggage while at the bus station since theft was a threat if you are not alert. We finally arrived in Valencia at 3 p.m. just in time for lunch, in Spain that is.
¡Viva Madrid!
2008-04-27 14:42:00 I just arrived in Madrid , Spain today together with my group from the Institute for Foreign Study, after a 19-hour trip from Manila via Doha, Qatar. Our destination is the Mediterranean city of Valencia, four hours from Madrid by bus.Before proceeding to the bus station, we asked the Enforex staff to stop at an attraction. And they brought us to the Puerta de Alcala. Stay tuned for more stories from Spain! More About: Viva
Learn to surf in Baler with two SEAIR tickets plus surfing lessons up for g
2008-04-24 09:43:00 You and a friend can fly to Baler, Aurora and go surfing with two SEAIR tickets up for grabs! Ivan About Town and the SEAIR Adventure Club is giving away two round-trip tickets to Baler and free surfing lessons for two to one lucky person. All you have to do is leave a comment in Summer fun in Baler and tell us why surfing is fun and why Baler is such a great place by Sunday, 3 May 2008, at 8:00 p.m.Like the previous raffle, make sure you place your full name in the name field since you will need a valid ID to claim the tickets if you win. The winner will be drawn at random and will be notified by e-mail so make sure you double check your e-mail address before submitting your comment. Finally, one entry per IP address so only the first entry from each IP address will be counted. Tickets will be valid from now until 15 October 2008. Good luck! More About: Surf , Surfing , Learn
Bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2008-04-19 14:09:00 The bus from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia is usually straightforward. We spent US$15 for it. The six-hour land trip is a very common route. And you can easily buy tickets anywhere in Vietnam. But for this trip, we encountered some problems.We left Mui Ne at 1 a.m. for the five-hour trip to HCMC. We were to catch the 8 a.m. bus to PP hoping to be there by 2 p.m. I had always wanted to shop again at the Russian Market since they have a lot of great cultural souvenirs and export overruns there.What I thought would be an easy border crossing turned out to be an irritating one. At the Vietnamese border, the immigration officer treated us shabbily. We were standing in front of him for almost 30 minutes and he was not minding us. At times, he was smirking. When asked if we were in the right line, he would answer "I'm busy" while passports of the people behind us were brought to him. We didn't budge until finally he entertained us after we reminded him that w... More About: Ride
Sand dunes of Mui Ne, Vietnam
2008-04-18 13:54:00 The different sand formations around Mui Ne are a major attraction after its beaches. The sand ranges from pure white to gold in the Bau Trang (White Lake), to a fiery red in other areas.We visited several sand formations including the red sand dunes in Fairy Stream and Red Canyon, the white sand dunes in Bau Trang as well as the yellow (gold) sand dunes. If not for the cluster pine trees by the lake, one would think it's a desert in Africa or the Middle East. In Bau Trang, you can ride a horse up the dunes or slide down on a makeshift sled which small kids will tout to you.We booked this afternoon tour in Ham Tien Beach. It was US$14 per person but we had the 4x4 all to ourselves. The ride around was a blast as I enjoyed the wind hit my face as we stood behind the jeep. More About: Vietnam , Sand , Ecotourism
Mui Ne Fishing Village in Vietnam
2008-04-16 18:08:00 I've always enjoyed taking the road less traveled. And this time around, that road led me to a fishing village five hours northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. Yes, I found myself in Vietnam once again. And I was going to the beach! How we got to Mui Ne in Binh Thuan Province was an adventure in itself.Because one of our low-cost carriers arrives in HCMC or Saigon at such an unholy hour, there is a big risk especially if you need to travel outside city limits. Our problem was the first bus to Mui Ne wasn't going to leave until 6 a.m. So we had to wait several hours before we could even start our five-hour journey by land. We decided to wait in Pham Ngu Lao, the backpacker area of HCMC.While asking around, we were badgered by xe om (motorbike for hire) drivers who said that they knew of a bus to Mui Ne that would leave much earlier in the Binh Thanh District of HCMC about 8km away. It was a risk, but for some reason, we trusted them. And they dropped us off in front of a bus station that ... More About: Fishing , Village
Boracay is just 35 minutes away
2008-04-16 16:55:00 The belief that getting a flight to Boracay during peak season weekends is close to impossible is a myth! And I realized that myself after flying to Boracay on several fully-booked weekend flights as a chance passenger.It was a hectic weekend. I found out last Thursday night that I had to be in Boracay Friday and Saturday night. But I already had commitments Saturday morning. So what was the solution? I was a chance passenger on the 3 p.m. SEAIR flight and that wasn't a problem. Then I was to risk being a chance passenger again for the 6:45 a.m. flight back to Manila the next day, hopefully to get to my 9 a.m. appointment in Makati. It's a good thing SEAIR has 35-minute flights to and from Caticlan.Then it was another SEAIR flight to Boracay on the same afternoon to catch another event in the evening. I had to be back in Manila on Sunday since I had to catch a flight to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on Monday!As planned, I got on the 6:45 a.m. SEAIR flight back to Manila and made it to my ... More About: Aklan , Minutes , Western Visayas
Aglicay Beach and Trangkalan Falls in Tablas
2008-04-16 03:10:00 First order of business for the day was to take the ferry from Romblon back to Tablas. Since the SEAIR flight from Tablas back to Manila is early in the morning, you have to be in Tablas a day before departure. The only morning ferry trip back to Tablas was at 8 a.m. so I made sure to get some quality rest the night before. After munching on the pizza leftover from my dinner at Romblon Deli, I made my way to the pier to catch the ferry.Back in San Agustin, I went back to the Madrona Residence in Brgy. Bachawan where I was to stay for the night. About three kilometers from the place is Trangkalan Falls which I decided to visit before lunch. On the way to the falls, I passed by three large bronze sculptures by the late Florante Caedo depicting the crucifixion, the pieta and the resurrection. Indeed, who would expect to find these works of arts tucked in the middle of nowhere?Finally reaching Trangkalan Falls, I immediately noticed its aquamarine catch basin which was most definitely e... More About: Beach , Beaches , Ecotourism , Waterfalls
Backpackers accommodation in Manila
2008-04-14 19:07:00 Since I reside in the Metro Manila area, there is no need for me to stay at backpackers accommodation in Manila. But I do get queries about cheap accommodation. So I checked out the backpackers haven of Manila which is in Malate to find out where backpackers can stay. Here are some of them:Friendly's GuesthouseOne of the more popular backpackers accommodation in the Malate area. They have fan dormitory rooms at PHP290 per person and AC dorm rooms at PHP340 per person. Fan rooms with shared bath start at PHP450. AC rooms with common bath start at PHP800 a night. While AC rooms with private bath start at PHP900 a night.1750 M. Adriatico corner Nakpil Streets, Malate, Manila+63 917 3331418Malate PensionneIt's in the same complex as Portico Restaurant. You can't miss it since there is a Starbucks store in front. Fan dorm rooms are PHP350 per person. Fan rooms are PHP750 a night. While AC rooms with private bath start at PHP1400. They also accept credit cards.1771 M. Adriatico Street,... More About: Hotels , Accommodation , National Capital Region
Avilon Zoo in Rodriguez, Rizal
2008-04-14 17:27:00 Avilon Zoo is the best zoo within the vicinity of Metro Manila. At 7.5 hectares, it's also the largest in the country. As Manila Zoo continues to deteriorate (what do you expect from a government zoo that lacks the proper funding for rehabilitation), it is these private endeavors that fill in for the need for quality recreational and educational facilities for Filipinos. Since it was a holiday last April 7, my family planned a visit to Avilon Zoo as soon as I arrived from Tablas.Getting there was a bit confusing since there was a lack of visible directional signs from San Mateo. You had to proceed to the town proper of Rodriguez (formerly Montalban) and from there, you could ask around how to get to the zoo. The first directional sign I noticed was away from the National Highway where they should have been to help visitors locate the park.We finally arrived at Avilon Zoo after passing through a dirt road. I expected the municipal government to have cemented this road long before gi... More About: Theme Parks , Southern Tagalog
Win two round-trip SEAIR tickets to Batanes!
2008-04-13 06:19:00 Ivan About Town and the SEAIR Adventure Club is giving away two round-trip SEAIR tickets from Manila to Basco, Batanes. All you have to do is leave a comment in SEAIR flies to Batanes telling us why you love Batanes by Sunday, 20 April 2008 at 8:00 p.m.Make sure you place your full name in the name field since you will need a valid ID to claim the tickets if you win. The winner will be drawn at random and will be notified by e-mail so make sure you double check your e-mail address before submitting your comment. Finally, one entry per IP address so only the first entry from each IP address will be counted. Tickets will be valid from now until 15 October 2008. Good luck! More About: Trip , Round
SEAIR's Let 410 UVP-E back to Manila
2008-04-11 17:00:00 I had an early morning SEAIR flight from Tablas back to Manila . It was my first time to ride in a Let 410 UPV-E plane. This 19-seater plane is quite versatile since it could service both paved and unpaved airstrips.The plane flew lower than the usual commercial aircrafts so I got to take really nice aerial shots. More About: Back
Romblon's food surprises
2008-04-09 03:07:00 Romblon still had more surprises. After climbing down from Fort San Andres, I proceeded to the Romblon Shopping Center to shop for marble souvenirs. But since I was starving, I had some halo-halo in one of the carinderia in front. As soon the shopping was done (since I still had to return to Tablas, I had to shop wisely or face the problem of carrying a heavy load), I returned to the hotel to get some rest before dinner.I was resigned to the fact that I had no choice but to pick another of the usual turo-turo at the Romblon Shopping Center. But I decided to walk around a bit and remembered passing by a cafe called the Romblon Deli from the pier. And I easily spotted it a few meters away from Freedom Park.Who could imagine that this laidback town of Romblon would have restaurants serving international cuisine? Indeed, Romblon Deli Coffee Shop & Restaurant was a bold experiment as the owner Dave Kershaw explained to me. There are two such restaurants in fact located beside each ot... More About: Food
Romblon, Romblon is a heritage town
More articles from this author:2008-04-07 18:28:00 All I knew about Romblon was that it was literally sitting on marble and that its cathedral is a National Cultural Treasure. But little did I know that the town's historical fabric was very much intact and if you compared the center of town to postcards from the prewar years, nothing much has changed. Walking around the streets of Romblon, Romblon was indeed a blast from the past! You could already see Fort San Andres as you enter Romblon Port.From the port, I walked towards the Romblon Shopping Center in from of Freedom Park where all the marble souvenir stores are clustered. There are a lot of really nice souvenirs but they should improve the ones with engravings which usually say "ROMBLON SOUVENIR." The way they engrave and paint the words in most of the souvenirs, in my opinion, cheapens the marble. Anyway, I decided to purchase souvenirs after I dropped off my stuff at the hotel.I was looking forward to seeing the Romblon Cathedral which is a National Cultural Treasure. But I ... More About: Food , Heritage , Hotels , Town 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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