Our Adventures: Day 2 in Cebu

Paul enjoying his coffee with a daytime view of the city.

Sunday was our 'tour the city day' since we were already heading back to Manila on Monday morning. So we got up early since we knew we had a long day ahead of us.   

Our room during the day.

Our room during the night. 

In case I haven't mentioned it yet - we stayed in the Crown Regency Towers in Cebu. Since there was a great deal I found online. 

Our room on the 30th floor. For some reason they gave us two Queen sized beds- this is the one we didn't use except for the pillows.

Paul taking some photos while waiting for our friend Charen who will be taking us around. 

Breakfast at Cafe Glo. The food was delish! 

Beautiful decorations gave a nice and elegant feel to the Cafe. Hotel guests are just a blur as they lined up around the buffet table. 

A lot of the hotel guests where foreigners from countries like Korea, China and Japan. Most if not all the hotel signs had their respective translations in either Korean or Chinese. The menu labels on the buffet even had caricatures of either a pig which describes that the dish is pork or a caricature of a chicken to signify that the dish was chicken and the same for beef and fish. 

One thing I love about breakfast buffets in hotels- juice in a glass of ice! :p 

The second floor of the hotel with the amazing decorations behind me. So basically Paul tells me to pose here and he just clicks away. Hey! Who am I to complain right? I get a lot of great photos! :) 

Starbucks right below our hotel. You can see the reflection of tour buses on the glass. 

There were street children right outside our hotel who seemed to be like vultures around the tour buses or waiting for tourists so that they could beg for food or money. 

I thought this was supposed to be a city right? And with all the tourists coming in you'd think that there would be more jobs and opportunities for people. But then again Manila is a city also and that doesn't mean any lack of street urchins. Or perhaps it's the old tale of poor families flocking to the city in the hopes of a better future but only finding reality, hunger and hardships. 

Does poverty always follow progress? I wonder. 

Me inside Starbucks but you can also see what was going on outside.

Waiting for our friend Charen in Starbucks. It's great that there was a Starbucks right below our hotel and we still able to connect to the wifi from the hotel lobby here so we were still able to stay connected through Twitter and Facebook. 

The security guard in  the photo above approached us and was offering a 'City Tour Package' for only P1,800.00. There were also other packages to the beaches of Cebu for around P 3,000.00 depending on whether it was just drop off or round trip. It's a good thing we had Charen to tour us around. :p 

Magellan's Cross. You can see Charen and myself to the right of the photo. 

Our first stop was Magellan's Cross; now people who have been to Cebu are sure to have visited Magellan's cross since it is such a tourist attraction. While we were still in the car Charen already set our expectations that Magellan's Cross was not was all it was made out to be. 

Upon arriving on the site it I'll admit there was a little disappointment since it was just a really small chapel like building that housed the famous cross which was planted by Ferdinand Magellan when they arrived in Cebu on April 14 or 21 (depending on the source), 1521.    

The sign under the cross says that this wooden cross encases the original cross which was brought to the Philippines upon the arrival of the Spaniards. What the sign does not say was that they placed the original cross in a casing in order to protect it from people who would chip away parts of the wood as souvenirs or because people believed that the cross had miraculous powers. 

However there is another story that is going around and this is that the original cross was destroyed after Magellan's death and that the cross in this site is just a replica which was just planted by the Spaniards. 

No matter what the real story may be, Magellan's Cross is a very important historical artifact in our country's history, despite it's very humble abode. 

This is Charen and myself by the cross. Charen is my childhood friend and we've known each other since we were like 6 years old. We live and grew up in the same village and also went to Assumption Antipolo together, although I was a year older than her. I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids when I got married last December 2011. Who thought that she'd be assigned in Cebu for work at the same time we would be visiting and because of that she was available to tour us around the city. 

Paul and I by the cross. Despite of Charen's lack of confidence in using Paul's DSLR to take the photo, it still turned out well. :)   

I felt goosebumps when I saw in the news that just a week after our visit to Cebu a man doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire inside the chapel of the Magellan's cross. 

Although the reason for the man's actions have not yet been discovered it is still a sad and disturbing thought that someone would do something like that and in this historical and religious site none the less. 

This is the church of the Sto. Niño which is right behind the small chapel of where Magellan's cross is. There were a lot of people in church since it was a Sunday. 

The church was founded and is run today by Augstinian priests and has undergone a number of reconstructions and has a very unique architecture. There is a huge outdoor plaza where the mass was held when we were there. Apparently the venues of the masses are changed from place to place within the church since the church also has indoor venues where masses are also held. 

A little cute boy who caught our attention during mass. 

When we heard mass we were inside and the mass was being held in the outdoor plaza outside. So it was weird since we had to face the priest which meant having to do an about face every time we stood up. 

The mass was in English but the homily was in Cebuano so Paul and I didn't understand the homily. 

The inside of the church. As you can see there was no priest in the altar since they were outside.

I found it strange since there were security guards posted at the entrances of the church and these guards would check your bags sort of like what mall security guards would do. But what was even stranger was that there were also security guards beside priests as they gave out Holy Communion.  

The original Sto. Niño statue which was brought by the Spaniards upon arriving in Cebu is housed in this church. We tried getting in line to kiss the Sto.Niño but the line was sooo long. We opted to just admire the statue from a far.   

I just found out that there was a museum inside the church and it was disappointing that we weren't able to visit it. Maybe we'll be able to during our next visit. :p 

Some Random Photos: 

The Metropolitan Church.

The inside of the Sto. Niño church. One of our favorite photos of our trip. 

Me- outside of Starbucks. 

The outside of the Sto. Niño church. 

Our friend Kristian advised us to visit the Metropolitan church and so we asked around and found out that the church is just like a block after the Sto. Niño church. There are many beautiful and historical churches in Cebu but it was sad to see so many street children just right outside the churches. 

Paul noticed that the walls had bullet holes in them. I discovered on further research that during World War II most of the cathedral was destroyed because of Allied bombings but was rebuilt during the 1950s.  

These pillars are the only remains of the attack during World War II.

             Paul and I with the surviving pillars of the original church. 

Paul's street photography. 

The photo above shows the place known as 'downtown' in Cebu. Charen says it is the 'Quiapo' of Cebu. This is just right outside of the Sto. Niño church. We had to walk pass here to get to the Metropolitan Church. I also bought some souvenirs here- coin purses with 'Cebu' and the shape of an animal. :) 

After our church trips it was time for lunch and my sister who also stayed in Cebu for work recommended that we try out Casa Verde which is basically a popular steak restaurant in Cebu. 

Don't be fooled this is one REALLY BIG baby-back ribs. 

There are two branches of Casa Verde in Cebu, one is in the Ayala area of Cebu while the other is in a bigger old- styled house and Charen brought us to the later so that we can appreciate the ambiance of the restaurant more and needless to say it wasn't only the ambiance which we appreciated but the food as well. 

The food was affordable and they really tasted great! We only had one order of baby back ribs but that one order was already good for the three of us!

We had so much fun telling stories and catching up we almost forgot that we were on a tour of the city! 

This is me standing outside of Casa Verde. As you can see the house some old Spanish touches to it which gives it a more authentic feel. 

After lunch we headed to Fort San Pedro which is basically Cebu's version of Fort Santiago. Fort San Pedro is located near the port area. The Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi ordered Spanish and Cebuano laborers  to build this military structure as a defense system. 

  

Charen and myself ready to enter the fort. 

Fort San Pedro was built in 1738 in order to keep away Muslim raiders, it is considered as the smallest and oldest bastion in the country. One unique trait of the fort is it's triangular shape with two of its sides facing the sea and the other side facing land.

The entrance of the fort. 

Korean tour guide to Korean tourists in a Filipino tourist spot. 

It was really odd to see a group of Korean tourists having their own Korean tour guide who was explaining the different items and artifacts that were displayed. The only word I understood from the Korean tour guide was 'Magellan'. I didn't know if there was an in house Filipino tour guide but one thing was for sure there was an entrance fee of P20.00 to visit the fort-definitely worth it! 

There was a small museum which housed interesting items such as an old Spanish flag which is what Charen and I are looking at this photo. There are also different paintings of prominent individuals in Filipino history. 

Finally! Paul has a photo! :)

There are different parts of the fort and each has it's own name and in the photo above Paul is showing the way to bastion San Miguel. 

Charen and myself enjoying the greenery. 

Fort San Pedro is not all about stones and cannons, the bastion also has some sort of beautiful secret garden inside. 

I was so happy when we saw a bridal entourage having their photos taken outside the fort. The bride's gown really caught my eye- it was so beautiful and elegant and it didn't hurt that the bride looked like a Korean actress. I also loved the colors of the dresses of the entourage-for me you can't go wrong with pink! :p 

After Fort San Pedro we went to the Taoist Temple which was in a subdivision which was coincidentally also named Beverly Hills! 

The entrance of the Taoist temple is a replica of the Great Wall of China. 

A flower with the beautiful Cebu landscape as its background. 

A lone dragon in the sky. 

Gateway to the sky. 

The  Cebu Taoist temple was built by Cebu's Chinese community in 1972, unlike other temples, the Taoist temple is open to tourists who have come to admire the oriental structures and pieces that depict the rich culture and religion of Taoism. 

Charen and me with Mushu! 

The temple is above 300 meters above sea level and boasts of colorful and towering pagodas. 

Enter the dragon. 

Apparently the Taoist temple is the most popular field trip venue in Cebu. It is said that there is no grade school student in Cebu who has not gone to the Taoist Temple. 

There is no entrance fee to the temple. 

The temple also features a souvenir shop, a library, a chapel and a wishing well. 

Can you guess who lives here? 

One thing that caught our attention even before we arrived in the temple was a tall stone wall outside the temple. Paul really wanted to have a photo of me here- even if it was already drizzling. That explains the look on my face. 

The guard at the temple told us Gaisano lived here- no wonder! 

The famous warm brownie cup at La Marea 

After visiting the Taoist temple we had a merienda at La Marea which was in the IT Park in Cebu. 

The warm brownie cup was very interesting because they were not kidding when they said that the brownie was warm because it really was-close enough to hot even and the ice cream was cold so it was a confusing delight. 

Taking advantage of the wifi in La Marea 

La Marea has a cozy layout inside with beautiful white and black photos on the wall. It was a nice and small space but definitely homey.  

The outside of La Marea 

After our snack we went and bought pasalubong and upon Charen's suggestion we actually bought them in the supermarket! This was because she noticed that the prices of the pasalubong in the supermarket is the same if not cheaper than the ones being sold outside. 

Surprisingly there was an actual aisle with all of the pasalubong, that was why buying pasalubong for our loved ones back in Manila was very fast and convenient. :) 

While waiting for our table. We were admiring the signage of 'Hukad' from the outside.

We decided to have dinner in the Hukad, which is a seafood restaurant in the Ayala Center in Cebu. Since we were still on a waiting list to be seated we went around and in all honestly the Ayala Center was just like being in Greenbelt in Makati.

The Ayala Center in Cebu.

Hukad had sea food on their menu among others. Unfortunately we were so hungry we just ate the food without taking photos- I know it's an absolute no- no, especially if we intend to blog about it. 

We promise to have more self control and to take photos of the food before we eat it. 

We finished off the evening with two Venti Salted Caramel Mocha (See! It was just as if you were in Makati!) 

The great thing about the Salted Caramel Mocha was that since I already had a Venti that morning there was an ongoing promo which would let you have two Ventis at half the price! 

So that means we were able to enjoy two Ventis for only P 174.00 (score!) :) 

Check out the receipt! I am such a sucker for things like this! :p 

So that was basically how we spent our whole day in Cebu and as Anthony Bourdain said: 'When you travel the only thing that you lack is time' and that is exactly what we felt aside from lacking energy. 

I really enjoyed our stay in Cebu and hopefully we would have more travels and misadventures in the future-oops! we actually have one coming up this weekend! :)