Lapu-Lapu Shrine.
This was the first time I stepped on historic Cebu. My wife, she has been here several times on business trips so she never really got to explore the land. Before coming here, we checked out a couple of blogs and iteneraries online just to have an idea of where to go and what to do. But, with an EZ Map on hand, we decided to just wing it because we thought most of the iteneraries were so ambitious and absurd. We were going on a vacation and not running the Amazing Race.
Landing on Mactan Cebu International Airport, we went directly to the nearest tourist spot, the Lapu-Lapu Shrine and Magellan Shrine at Punta Engaño. These monuments were erected in honor of Datu Lapu-Lapu, a Muslim king who defeated Spanish soldiers and killed explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Battle of Mactan in 1521. There is no entrance fee to enter the park but there are donation boxes where you can help with the maintenance of the tourist spot.
Basilica Minore del Santo Niño.
Since it was also lunch time, we thought we should grab a bite at one of the sutukil restaurants around the area. Probably the first dining mistake we made was to eat at a tourist destination where the food was expensive and the food could have been cooked better. Nevertheless, we still love seafood and it was a good lunch of baked scallops, sinigang na lapu-lapu, grilled lapu-lapu, seaweed salad, and a shellfish cooked adobo-style.
One way to get familiar with a place is not to take taxi rides to go around. If Manila has jeepneys, Cebu has multicabs to take commuters where they need to go. The multicabs around Mactan are smaller and a little bit more cramped than the regular-sized jeepney. But once you reach Mandaue, you’ll find that the multicabs here are almost the size of minibuses. Commuting not only saves you a lot of taxi fare but also allows you to be familiar with the streets and landmarks.
The Heritage of Cebu Monument.
After we checked in at a hotel near downtown Cebu City walked towards our next destination, Magellan’s Cross, the Christian cross planted by the Spanish explorers as ordered by Ferdinand Magellan upon arriving in the Philippines in April 8,1521. From there, we only had to backtrack, using our trusty EZ map, and stroll along the other tourist spots like the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño (buit on the spot where the image of the Santo Niño was left behind by the explorers of the Magellan expedition), Raja Humabon Monument(a shrine dedicated to Raja Humabon, one of the Muslim chiefs of Cebu who recognized the power of the king of Spain), Cathedral Museum of Cebu (the museum of the Roman Catholic Archdioces of Cebu), Colon Monument (a monument erected at the end of Colon street, the oldest street in the Philippines, which named after Cristobal Colon, a.k.a Chistopher Columbus), Heritage of Cebu Monument (also called the Parian Monument, depicts the history of Cebu from the time of Raja Humabon to the beatification of martyr Pedro Calungsod), and Casa Gorordo Museum (a house formerly owned by four generations of the Gorordo family which was later turned into a public museum by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation).
Aside from these tourist spots, we also got a glimpse of the life around downtown Cebu. It was much like the streets of Quiapo and Recto where there are street establishments selling all kinds of whatnots from furnitures to electribics, and street vendors peddling street foods and exotic merchandise. Cebu is not much different from what we are accustomed to in Manila. The clouds did give use a little drizzle as we were strolling but we were able to buy an umbrella from one of the local supermarkets. And so ends day one of our Cebu adventure.
Related Blogs:
- Taking in Four Days of Cebu, Day 2: Atop Crowne Regency
- Taking in Four Days of Cebu, Day 3: a Temple, a Fort, and Smelly Food
- Taking in Four Days of Cebu, Day 4: T’was Nice to Know You, Cebu
