Month: August 2014

Ilocos 2014 [Part 4]

It’s the last day of our adventure so we better make the most out of it. We started out a little past eight in the morning with a decent breakfast inclusive of our stay at Grandpa’s Inn. We wasted no time and headed out to the city. Our feet scrambled towards the plaza where we visited the Vigan Church.

DSC_0494DSC_0491DSC_0497After a few minutes of silence, offering a prayer of thanks and guidance for our safe adventure, we went and rode a calesa (horse-drawn carriage) to tour us around Vigan and nearby town of Bantay. It’s actually my first time to ride though there are calesas roaming around the city of Manila. All I can think of is how slow and quiet the life before when cars are not yet invented. And somehow, I remember the flashback scenes in the Vampire Diaries!

We visited Burgos Museum. It’s a typical Hispanic house and the display includes memorabilia from the time when Vigan is still under Spanish regime. We saw the old benches with little cabinets at the foot where they put chickens. One room shows old caskets made of wood, jewelries and weapons. A few sites are closed for renovation so we left and continued with our calesa ride. It costs P300 per hour.

DSC_0521DSC_0527DSC_0519DSC_0531DSC_0535Next, we visited Bantay Church and its famous bell tower. The tower was closed for maintenance so we just stayed outside. Plus, we wanted to cover more places in two hours so after offering another prayer, we left and went to Crisologo Museum. To be honest, this was my least favorite part of the tour. Not sure why though.

DSC_0504DSC_0508DSC_0511DSC_0549DSC_0560We quickly passed by Baluarte. Didn’t pique our interest that much so after a few minutes of rest, we rode our calesa back to Calle Crisologo to our hotel. We ate lunch at a nearby local pizzeria (I think it’s called Dexter’s, not sure).

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We checked out at past 12PM and went our way back to the bus station going to Laoag. This is the only bummer in the trip. I thought there’s a decent trip going to Laoag from Vigan and vice versa. Thank God we have at least half a day until our flight! You’ll be a chance passenger in the trip from Vigan going Manila which passes by Laoag. We weren’t late for our flight but we hadn’t had a chance to roam around Laoag.

DSC_0514All in all, this trip is the longest and the best (local) I’ve had so far. It seems like our Pagudpud trip is entirely different from our Vigan trip. The long bus rides in between are fun! I didn’t regret having to commute from one place to another with a big bag in your back. We pretty much covered a lot of places and enjoyed different sceneries in just less than a week. But Ilocos has still more to offer and I can’t wait to be back!