We all
have different reasons for travelling. For most people, it’s to see the popular
landmarks: heritage sites, theme parks, churches, beaches, and other
attractions. For foodies like me, it’s to experience the culture of a new place
by delving into its local cuisine—or plainly, to pig out. Still for others,
it’s a way to seek all things new: restaurants, nightclubs, places, experiences,
people. Oftentimes, it’s a mix of all these.
While I
tend to gravitate towards the foodie inclination, I have learned to love Cebu
so much in the few times that I went there—a fondness that told me I shouldn’t
be eating my way around Cebu without seeing its historical sites. If you read
my old post about our Cebu-Bohol trip in 2012, you would know that it contained
an itinerary I myself didn’t even follow. That was my first time in Cebu and I
was aiming for a complete city tour—it turned out to be four days of
drunkenness. As I kept saying, I have a weird way of discovering a new place: I
learn where the good restaurants and bars are, haha! So when I came back this
year to Cebu, I felt like I owed it to the place to actually accomplish this
city expedition.
I love
Cebu so much that I was willing to walk around and learn its past, even if
history tremendously bores me. OK, the definition of “learn” in the previous
sentence is up for a debate.
Anyway,
after a fabulous lunch in Lantaw Floating Native Restaurant in far-flung
Cordova in Mactan, my mom, my sister, and I went to Sto. Nino Church to attend
mass (we’re holy like that). Sto. Nino Church, or the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino de Cebu, is the oldest church in the Philippines. The mass was conducted in the outdoor area, same
venue of the Feast during Sinulog.
My concern
before getting there was, “what if the mass is in Cebuano?” Fortunately, it was
carried out in English.
After the
mass, I saw people waving their hands towards the direction of the altar. It
turns out that the gesture is a symbol of faith, an act performed by devotees
to express their call and submission to the Lord. I mimicked the gesture with
an added message: “Til we see each other again!”
The
interior of Sto. Nino looked so much like the church we have in Meycauayan,
Bulacan, aptly called … the Sto. Nino Church. HAHAHA! Looks like our version at
home is patterned from the original one, which is in Cebu of course.
Since it
was already night-time, the gates to the Magellan’s Cross were already closed.
Imagine my disappointment when I realized I could only take pictures of the
beautiful ceiling by extending my arms through the grilles, haha!
If you
want to know the history behind Magellan’s Cross, I’m not the person you should
ask, haha! All I know is that it’s a symbol of how Magellan brought Catholicism
in the Philippines.
The Cebu
Provincial Capitol is another landmark I put an effort into seeing. It’s not
that far from the hotel where I stayed, and near Zubuchon in Escario, so when I
went there for lunch I made sure to drop by the Capitol. It shows off an
elegant architecture—multi-featured, as is evident from its façade: a concave
wall, topped by a dome, flanked by wings, with a rectangular base serving as
the entryway.
I have always been fascinated with photographing structures, and it looks majestic, if you ask me. I could almost imagine President Snow of the Hunger Games emerging anytime, sentencing me to a lifetime of starvation just because he feels like doing so. Haha!
I visited
the Capitol a few hours before I left for Manila, and needless to say, I didn’t
complete my city tour goal again. I have listed down all the places I want to
see in Cebu City below, and ticked off the sites I have been to:
Cebu
Cathedral
Taoist
Temple
La Independencia
Fort San
Pedro
Six out of
ten. Not bad. Four more reasons to go back to Cebu.
I have a
feeling my brain deliberately forgets something so that I have a reason to come
back.
If you’re
a stick-to-the-plan traveler, you can finish this city tour in one day—maybe even
half day. But then, if you’re in a rush, you won’t be able to enjoy and fully
appreciate each one of them. I hate it when people just pass by a certain place
and take pictures just so that they could shout out to the world by posting in
Facebook that they have been there. Be a bit more spontaneous. Talk to a
stranger, sit down and get awed by architecture, maybe even grab a drink (like
we did in TOPS). Traveling is about seeing places for what they really are, and
not about collecting thousands of pictures.
I hope
people see Cebu for what it really is, and why it’s called the Queen City of
the South.
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