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Going North – Vigan, Ilocos Sur (Part 3)

March 27, 2008 by Badet 3 Comments

At last, the last installment for my Ilocos tour is here though it’s been a month late. But still, I want to share with you memoirs of Calle Crisologo and Baluarte in Vigan. Calle Crisologo is a cobbled-stone street, well-preserved for its cultural heritage. It has a unique character because of its old-world feel complete with the calesas as the only means of transportation. The stretch of Calle Crisologo houses souvenir shops and antique shops. You can buy your souvenir shirts for Php 150-350. Bagnet and Vigan Longganisa are also available here.

Kalesa in Calle Crisologo

Souvenir shirts for Php 150-350 a pop

After buying souvenirs in Calle Crisologo, we headed to Baluarte ni Chavit to check out the animals and exotic birds. Ostriches can loiter around the area but thank God the tigers were kept inside their cages, hehe.

Baluarte ni Chavit

Filed Under: food, Ilocos Tagged With: bagnet, Baluarte, Calle Crisologo, Ilocos Sur, travel, Vigan, vigan longganisa

Going North – Laoag, Ilocos Norte (Part 2)

March 5, 2008 by Badet 2 Comments

After basking in the fine sand of Pagudpud and slept in Villa del Mar Ivory Beach Resort, we woke up at 3:00 am the next day to prepare for our early morning trek to Kaibigan Falls. But to our dismay, it was raining hard, the weather is bad for trekking. We initially planned to catch the sunrise at Kaibigan Falls but decided not to push through with it. We left the resort at a later time and went to Bangui Windmills, coined by the locals as “giant electric fans”. The weather was gloomy and the skies were covered with clouds, not a good background for picture perfect windmills, but what the heck…. the windmills are breathtakingly beautiful, I feel like I wasn’t even in the Philippines.

Bangui Windmills

Next stop is the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse also known as Burgos Lighthouse in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. This is one of the must-see landmarks aside from the windmills in Ilocos Norte. It’s proudly set on a hill overlooking the South China Sea making it the highest lighthouse in the Philippines. From 1892, it still serves its purpose, flashing its light every minute.

Cape Bojeador Lighthouse

Another landmark worth seeing is St. Augustine Church popularly known as Paoay Church. The church is known for it “earthquake baroque” style and is included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Coral stones and bricks made up the structure. Looking closely at the church’s structure, it reminds me of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat.

Paoay Church

In front of Paoay church is where you can find Herencia Cafe, home of the famous “pinakbet pizza”. But we were too full of our lunch that we decided skip to eat pizza. We spent the rest of the afternoon touring Malacanang of the North and Fort Ilocandia.

Fort Ilocandia

Filed Under: Ilocos Tagged With: Bangui windmills, beach, Burgos lighthouse, Cape Bojeador lighthouse, Fort Ilocandia, Herencia cafe, ilocos norte, Kaibigan falls, pagudpud, Paoay church, pinakbet pizza, St. Augustine church, travel, Villa del Mar Ivory Beach Resort

Going North – Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte (Part 1)

March 1, 2008 by Badet 3 Comments

After 9-hour bus ride via Farinas Transit to Laoag and another 2-hour jeepney ride, we’ve finally reached our destination. We’re dead tired and sleepy from a long journey and uncomfortable bus ride but still looking forward and excited to the start of our 3-day escape.

Before settling at Saud Beach, we first had our breakfast at BingBong’s Restaurant. Then, we went further north to see the spectacular view of South China Sea at the Patapat Viaduct. At the end of Patapat Viaduct, we visited Agua Grande Picnic Park for another round of camwhoring.

Patapat Viaduct

Agua Grande Picnic Park

A few minutes drive from Agua Grande led us to the Maira-ira, Blue Lagoon. We didn’t bother to change to our swimming gears though the waves looks inviting. We just exchanged our “oooohs-and-aaahs” for the splendid view in front of us and headed for Bantay Abot Cave. Bantay Abot Cave means “a mountain with a hole”.

Bantay Abot Cave (a mountain with a hole)

Blue Lagoon

From the Blue Lagoon, we can see from afar the famous Bangui Windmills, coined by the locals as “giant electric fans”. But the windmills deserve another post, besides we”ll visit it on the 2nd day of our itinerary. Meanwhile, we decided to leave Blue Lagoon, and head to Villa del Mar Ivory Beach Resort. It’s past lunchtime when we arrived at the resort and left our things in our room, we immediately went to their restaurant and ordered Pinakbet and Bagnet. We spent the rest of the afternoon frolicking on the resort’s white sand and blue and calm waters. It was drizzling by night time though we still had a glimpse of the sunset.