Summer 2019 might just be one of the most memorable for me. My US-based sister comes for vacation annually but this year, her daughter, with the boyfriend, came with her, so we went to more places than we did in the past years (My niece's last visit
was around seven or eight years ago).
The best and most memorable trip we made last May was to Cebu. We spent three days mostly on the road because we moved from one town to another, but we were able to see a lot of lovely, wonderful places. We got to eat in some of the best restaurants in the province, too! If you're planning to explore Cebu, I recommend that you get a tour package like we did because having a guide and vehicle to move you and your group from one place to another will make your trip a lot
more convenient and enjoyable.
Our guides (we had two, including the van owner/driver) knew exactly the best places to bring us so we could enjoy the sights and the yummy "eats"! They literally took great care of us and attended to our every need.
was around seven or eight years ago).
The best and most memorable trip we made last May was to Cebu. We spent three days mostly on the road because we moved from one town to another, but we were able to see a lot of lovely, wonderful places. We got to eat in some of the best restaurants in the province, too! If you're planning to explore Cebu, I recommend that you get a tour package like we did because having a guide and vehicle to move you and your group from one place to another will make your trip a lot
more convenient and enjoyable.
Our guides (we had two, including the van owner/driver) knew exactly the best places to bring us so we could enjoy the sights and the yummy "eats"! They literally took great care of us and attended to our every need.
Anyway, we did a three-day journey that started at around 7 a.m. on a Wednesday (flight from Manila to Cebu takes an hour). Our guides were already waiting for us at the Mactan International Airport when we touched down. First, they took our group of six people to Magellan's Cross and Sto. Niño church, then to Island Souvenirs
for a little bit of shopping, all in Cebu City.
for a little bit of shopping, all in Cebu City.
Magellan's Cross will give you a slice of history. It is a large wooden cross ordered planted by Ferdinand Magellan when his group of Spanish and Portuguese explorers arrived in the island on March 17, 1521. The cross that is housed in the chapel next to the Basílica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu, is, however,
just a replica of the original.
just a replica of the original.
The chapel housing Magellan's Cross in Cebu City
Magellan's Cross (replica of the original)
Inside the Basílica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu
After some time of praying (and picture-taking) inside the church, we went to the nearby Island Souvenirs where I bought a "Cebu" shirt. Outside the store, there were vendors selling souvenirs too at much lower prices.
We bought ref magnets from one of them.
We bought ref magnets from one of them.
Then, we hit the road going to Carcar City. Along the way, we marveled at how everything was orderly and the streets very clean. Shortly before 10:30 a.m., we were in Carcar and had brunch at the House of Lechon.
Spicy Lechon, Pancit Bam-I, brewed coffee and fried rice
The food is good, too, especially the spicy lechon. We wanted lechon sauce, though, but we were told that lechon in Cebu doesn't come with it, as the meat itself
is already flavorful. Lechon, by the way, is one of the things
the province of Cebu is best known for.
Our next stop was the Temple of Leah, where we arrived at past 12 noon. I wasn't expecting much from this place coz I've never heard about it before but I was awestruck by its beauty! The temple itself is a massive structure, built by Teodorico Adarna for his late wife, Leah Albino-Adarna. If you know the beautiful actress Ellen Adarna, well, those are her grandparents and now you know she comes
from an insanely wealthy family.
Inside the temple, there's a huge statue of Leah and at the wall at the left are written some words coming from the temple's builder. More than the splendor and beauty of the place, I was also impressed and touched about how much Mr. Adarna loved his wife -- enough to spend millions of pesos to build her a temple!
After about an hour, we left the Temple of Leah to go to what we were told would be a flower garden. The place, we later learned, was called "Sirao Pictorial Garden" and it's just 20 minutes away from the Temple of Leah. There are so many picture-perfect sites inside the huge garden as you can see here, you won't run short of nice shots
to feed your Instagram page!
Inside the temple, there's a huge statue of Leah and at the wall at the left are written some words coming from the temple's builder. More than the splendor and beauty of the place, I was also impressed and touched about how much Mr. Adarna loved his wife -- enough to spend millions of pesos to build her a temple!
After about an hour, we left the Temple of Leah to go to what we were told would be a flower garden. The place, we later learned, was called "Sirao Pictorial Garden" and it's just 20 minutes away from the Temple of Leah. There are so many picture-perfect sites inside the huge garden as you can see here, you won't run short of nice shots
to feed your Instagram page!
Next in our itinerary was Simala Shrine in Sibonga, which we almost never got to visit. It was nearly closing time when we got there (travel time from Sirao was more than three hours). We got behind our schedule coz we always lingered
in our stops and took too many pictures. Hahaha!
Anyway, Simala Shrine is a really big Catholic church that is castle-like with its beautiful gothic structures. We left after sunset when it was almost completely dark so I was a witness to how the whole place looked like at night: scary. Tee-hee. I went out the compound ahead of my companions but not because I was scared but because
I was hungry and wanted to look for food.
Fortunately, there was a lot of stalls selling souvenirs, religious stuff and food and I bought something I'd long been curious about: torta. In Manila, we call omelette "torta" but I learned that in the Visayas, torta is a baked goodie similar to "mamon". Well, it was good but there's a dusting of sugar
on top so I didn't eat much of it.
hot calamansi juice, Pinakbet, ripe mango shake, Grilled tuna, Tinolang manok
Later on, it was dinnertime. Our tour guides brought us to Barrio Kusina in Dalaguete town where we arrived shortly before 7:30. This restaurant offers Filipino food at
reasonable prices. I loved all our orders, especially the pinakbet,
which is my favorite veggie dish. After dinner, we hit the road again and arrived later at Lagnason's Place in Oslob town, where we would be staying for two nights.
Oslob is 32 kms away from Dalaguete and travel time was a little more than an hour.
It was a very long and tiring but enjoyable day and once we got settled at Lagnason's Place, I immediately dozed off when I hit the sack.
The following day, the 30th of May, we were up before 5 a.m. as we should be early for the whale shark-watching. So excited! We were at the seaside at 6:45 a.m. and i was surprised that there were already lots of people (mostly foreigners, I noticed) there. Our guide listed our group and we waited till it was our turn to see the gentle
giants. In the meantime, we had breakfast at
Sunrise Grill Haus by the shore.
At around 8 a.m., we sat for a briefing where we were told about the dos and don'ts when watching and swimming with whale sharks and at 8:30, we rode the boat that took us to the "butandings". In just less than 10 minutes,
there they were, the gentle giants!
It was an awesome experience to see those gigantic but harmless creatures swimming beside our boats (there were others besides ours, maybe 10-12 per batch). The boatmen threw them small shrimps which they eagerly ate. My niece and her boyfriend got off the boat to swim with the whales but my niece got scared so she just held on to the boat's outriggers. Her sweetie, Connor, got to swim with the whales and had a marvelous time! We rented a GoPro action camera for P500, and our boatman used it to catch his pictures underwater. It was Connor's first time to visit the Philippines and to actually go on a boat ride. I could just imagine how enjoyable and memorable
the whole experience was for him.
The whole whale-watching activity took less than an hour and we left the seaside at around 10 a.m. As we were walking toward our van, we stopped by a store to buy whale shark souvenir items and also a coffee shop where my niece treated us.
We loved our cold coffee drinks!
Next on our itinerary would have been a sandbar somewhere but since we were again running behind the schedule, we canceled it because we would miss the sandbar anyway as it would be high tide already by the time we reached it. We also decided to skip the canyoneering as we didn't want high adventure. Haha! We're not very brave, I must admit. Our concensus was to proceed to Kawasan Falls after lunch, which we had at Cosina Organica in Alegria Town.
Menu
Cosina Organica is a restaurant built on seawater and serves healthy dishes using organic ingredients and without the use of MSG. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the place and of course, we took a lot of pictures. Eating time didn't disappoint, too. We loved the food, especially
the sweet and sour fish.
After our sumptuous lunch, we left Cosina Organica around 1 p.m. and proceeded to Kawasan Falls in Badian town, where we arrived around 1:50 pm.
Visitors have to walk around 20 minutes going to the falls. Habal-habal or motorcycles for hire may be used by those who can't or don't want to trek.
At Kawasan Falls
Finally, after some time, Kawasan Falls!
The water is clean, cold and refreshing!
We enjoyed the river and falls for two hours before walking back to the van.
Buying snacks while on our way back to the van
We left before 5 p.m. to travel back to Oslob. At sunset, we stopped by the road in Santander town to enjoy and take pictures. What a marvelous time!
I sooo loved the picturesque sunset!
After an hour more of travel, we reached Paul and Madz Restaurant in Oslob
to have dinner. This place offers mostly Pinoy food and we did
like and enjoy our orders.
On our third and last day, we went swimming with turtles and sardines in Moalboal town. We left Lagnason's Place shortly after 6:30 a.m., and traveled three hours to reach Moalboal. We went to Gaisano Mall and had breakfast at McDonald's. About 10 minutes after leaving the mall, we were at the town's tourist center and attended a briefing before the turtle and sardines watching.
After some 20 minutes of waiting for our boat, we left for our first destination,
which was Pescador Island.
Pescador is a small, rocky island at the south side of Tanon Strait - a rich marine habitat that's about 161 kilometers long. We didn't get off the boat anyway, and just decided to pass by. Not too far from Pescador Island, our boat stopped where there are huge "pawikan" or sea turtles.
We got off the boat and enjoyed swimming with the turtles and having our pictures and videos taken by the boatman (At the pier, we again rented a GoPro for P500.) After some time, the boatmen led us to the deeper waters to go see the sardines.
The small fishes looked as though they were performing a synchronized swimming stunt, harmoniously going together as one group or school from one direction to another. They were a sight to behold! Our group enjoyed the water and these marine creatures so much, although most of us weren't good swimmers and just
held onto the life donuts. Tee-hee..
And then it was time to go home. Sigh...We were again running late in our schedule so for lunch, we just bought food from a Chowking branch and ate on the van on our way to the airport on Mactan Island, some three hours away. Fortunately, we still had a few minutes to spend pasalubong-shopping so our guides brought us to Shamrock Bakery and Pasalubong Center in Lapu-lapu City, where we bought the famous Otap biscuits and dried mangoes, along with chicharon from Carcar and Peanut Kisses from Bohol.
top favorite pasalubong items at Shamrock on Mactan Island.
We reached the airport just in time, thanks to our van driver! We took off from Cebu
at 7 p.m. and landed in Manila at 8 p.m.
Ciao, Cebu! Hope to be back again for more fun and adventures!
