Today was an official National Holiday for the Philippines because it’s National Heroes Day or Araw ng Mga Bayani in Filipino.
Since there’s no work, and to go with the theme, I proposed to a friend to have a trip to Intramuros, for a historical and cultural experience.
We came from Caloocan (my parents’ house) so instead of going to our usual route from Quezon City, where I currently live, my dad suggested that we go to C3, take North Bay and straight to Anda Circle, where one side of Intramuros is. Around 20 minutes later, we saw an entrance to the walled city.
We went straight to the famous Manila Cathedral, and parked in the parking space in front of it. Flat parking rate is Php 40.00 (less than a US$). We took photos of the cathedral and the plaza in front of it — Plaza Roma. Then approached a security officer, clad in his Katipunero outfit and asked him where we’ll find good restaurants in the area, where we should start walking, and what we’re going to see if we go straight, left or right. He gave us the information we needed and gave us a vicinity map.
We decided to trace the route of the wall along Bonifacio Drive, where we saw a bigger part of the Golf Course, some historical passage ways, eateries, and ruins.
We then cut our walk along that side short and passed by Real, seeing the the back side of the San Agustin Church and Convent, then turning right to General Luna to see San Agustin Church once again. I’ve seen San Agustin Church when I was in college, making it a part of my paper in a Renaissance Studies class. The church’s paint has changed now, but all others, it still remains the same.
Then we crossed the street to check out Barbara’s, one of the famous restaurants in the area. Unfortunately, the restaurant is closed, but the cafe (The Coffee Shop) was open. We checked out the menu but we’re not really hungry then, we wanted to have more food options. Before we left the area, we went inside The Papier Tolé Shop- crafts store specializing in paper tole and other trinkets, my friend bought a figurine. We asked the store’s staff where we could find more restaurants. He said we could check out Casa Marinero, Patio Conchita and Tamayo’s. He told us where to find these places. Luckily, we were able to see all of them, but still opted not to eat there. We were looking for a little ambiance, like what the whole Intramuros gives — hispanic and cozy. When we reached the cathedral back, we asked the security officers again about where to eat. They told us to try Illustrado, highly recommending it since the place was said to be used for a few (film) shootings. Since it was high noon, we went back to the car and drove to Illustrado for lunch.
After lunch, we drove to Fort Santiago. At first, it only looked like a park to me — a big and clean park. With a few historical details like cannons and old bombshells here and there. But if you look closely and explore more, you’ll find some interesting ruins, and items. Then walk to the end of the oval park and cross the moat to get to the more historical part of Fort Santiago — museums at the place where our very own National Hero Jose P. Rizal was jailed before he was shot in Luneta. What a way to celebrate National Heroes day!
We wanted to go to Luneta but opted to cross the Pasig River instead and go to Binondo, particularly the Chinatown. Unfortunately, a lot of establishments were closed, and the few ones that were open are the ones selling Tikoy, fruits and jewelry. We were actually looking for more interesting finds like vintage gadgets or novelty shops, maybe? But the whole of Binondo was still full of patrons buying bargains and eating at different Chinese restaurants so the traffic was a still a bit heavy. So we just made a ride around the Binondo – Sta. Cruz area, passing by the Binondo Church, Ongpin and back to the Jones Bridge.
We then went to Rizal Avenue (the road where LRT Line 1 is) to go to Harbour Square to have an early dinner. We tried the new Night Kebab restaurant at the second floor. We got a view of the sunset, the skyline, and well, the spectacular Manila Bay by night.
In less than eight hours, we relived a historical and cultural experience in Intramuros and hopped to a shopping frenzy at Binondo, then off to a more modern dining experience at Harbour Square beside Manila Bay where the sunset was awesome. Truly, simply no place like Manila.
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The Manila Cathedral, Intramuros Manila
Plaza Roma, Intramuros Manila
Palacio del Gobernador
Night Kebab, Persian Restaurant, Harbour Square, CCP Complex
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