Ilocos Sur: Historic Town of Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Historic Town of Vigan was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. UNESCO inscribed Vigan in the World Heritage List because it "represents a unique fusion of Asian building design and construction with European colonial architecture and planning," and "is an exceptionally intact and well preserved example of a European trading town in East and South-East Asia."


The UNESCO description of Vigan reads, "Established in the 16th century, Vigan is the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia. Its architecture reflects the coming together of cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines, from China and from Europe, resulting in a culture and townscape that have no parallel anywhere in East and South-East Asia."


I woke up early in the morning to take photos around Vigan. If you want to take great photos of Crisologo Street, and other significant places around Vigan, without the crowds and the clutter of the souvenir shops, 6 to 8 a.m. is the best time to do that since the streets are deserted and the shops closed.


Our group was very lucky that Engr. Ricardo Favis of UNESCO was in Vigan at the time we were there. He invited us over to his house for us to understand the unique architecture of Vigan. He talked about the different parts of a typical Vigan house, their uses during the Spanish colonial times and the conservation issues and difficulties to maintain such large houses today without any clear economic benefits for the owners.

A Bangkok-based UNESCO consultant, Ric is one of the people responsible for the preservation of Vigan in the early 1990s. If not for Ric and his group, there would be no Vigan to speak of today. In fact, he was sharing to us that when they started the preservation movement in Vigan, they were branded as anti-development and criticized by the media for it. It was only after a visit by UNESCO officials visited Vigan and said that it was UNESCO World Heritage material did the locals start realizing that indeed there was potential in heritage.


Now that Vigan is part of the UNESCO World Heritage List, it has received an economic boost from tourism arrivals. The challenge now to harness the economic benefits of tourism while ensuring the proper conservation of the unique Vigan architecture. In the Philippines, as tourism brings in the needed revenue, many policy makers and stakeholders are blinded and forget why people come in the first place, what the tourism product really is and sadly neglect it. I hope that will not happen in Vigan because they seem to have gotten it right.

Part 1: Road trip to Pagudpud
Part 2: Road trip from Pagudpud to Vigan
Part 3: Arce Mansion in Vigan, a colonial Ilocano dinner experience
Part 5: Tres de Mayo Festival in Vigan, Ilocos Sur
Part 6: Where to stay in Vigan (Hotels & Accommodation)

Ilocos Sur: Arce Mansion in Vigan, a colonial Ilocano dinner experience

Have you ever wondered how it must have felt to dine during the Spanish and American colonial periods? At the Arce Mansion in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, you'll get to experience that, complete with period costumes!

As soon as you arrive, you are given welcome drinks and ushered into the costume room. They have a variety of costumes to choose from ranging from wealthy ilustrado garb to the simple indio, a gobernadorcillo, military officer, bishop or monk. They even have a Chinese costume since Vigan was known to have a lot of mestizos de sangley.


You basically come as you are and try out their costumes. Women don't have much problems with costume sizes since they can easily be adjusted. But for male costumes, unless you're on the slimmer side, it might be difficult to find pants and suits your size. So you're left with the religious attire.

That being the case, you might want to wear your own black pants so you don't have problems choosing a costume. And although slippers are fine, they don't look good on the souvenir photos (for females, the dress is long enough to cover the feet). So best to wear leather shoes for males. But if you don't mind hiding your feet behind a suitcase, slippers, sneakers and sandals will be fine.

After you change into your costumes, you will be ushered into a room for souvenir photos colonial style, complete with all the props which includes large chairs, vases on pedestals and large fans for the ladies. After that's done, it's time for dinner.


The dining room is air-conditioned so don't worry about eating in your costumes. They serve local Ilocano food. And while eating, you are serenaded with vernacular folk songs.


After dinner, you are ushered into the main living room for dessert, tea and coffee, and more photos. It got quite hot. So after the photos, those in the group started changing out of their costumes. This was definitely a fun experience! And Camp Suki does this in Taal, Batangas too!

Arce Mansion
87 Quirino Boulevard cor. Abaya Street
Vigan, Ilocos Sur
(02) 7250819 / (0917) 8246900

Part 1: Road trip to Pagudpud
Part 2: Road trip from Pagudpud to Vigan
Part 4: Historic Town of Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part 5: Tres de Mayo Festival in Vigan, Ilocos Sur
Part 6: Where to stay in Vigan (Hotels & Accommodation)

Ilocos Norte & Ilocos Sur: Road trip from Pagudpud to Vigan (Day 2)

The drive from Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte to Vigan, Ilocos Sur was an interesting one too. After breakfast and checking-out from the Kapuluan Vista Resort in Mairaira Cove (Blue Lagoon), we drove down to Laoag to catch lunch at Saramsam Restaurant.


On the way, we made sure to stop at the Pasuquin Bakery to taste their really delicious soft biscocho bread. That stop is well worth it. The drive to Laoag is about 2 and a half hours and we were there just in time for lunch.



Saramsam Restaurant is also know for its Ilocano pizzas, particularly the Poque-Poque Pizza which has an eggplant and egg-based Ilocano dish for toppings. Also try out the Longaniza Pizza and their Dinardaraan (Dinuguan) Pizza. We also had local dishes that included igado, insarabsab and blanched vegetables with KBL (kamatis, bagoong and lasuna). Dessert was malunggay sherbet with kalamansi which was surprisingly good.

After Laoag, we went straight to Vigan which was another two hours away. We wanted to catch the street dance parade of the Viva Vigan! Binatbatan Festival so we made sure to leave Laoag as soon as we could reach Vigan before the parade started at 4 p.m.


As soon as we arrived, we checked-in at My Vigan Home, a by-reservations only private guest house. And we were off to Crisologo Street to enjoy the street dancing at the festival.

Part 1: Road trip to Pagudpud
Part 3: Arce Mansion in Vigan, a colonial Ilocano dinner experience
Part 4: Historic Town of Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part 5: Tres de Mayo Festival in Vigan, Ilocos Sur
Part 6: Where to stay in Vigan (Hotels & Accommodation)

Ilocos Sur & Ilocos Norte: Road trip to Pagudpud (Day 1)

I found myself on the way to Ilocos Norte again for our Ultimate Philippines tour of the north! The first leg of the trip involved a long drive from Makati all the way to Blue Lagoon (Mairaira Cove) in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. With stopovers, the trip took 20 hours.

We left Makati 11 p.m. the night before and arrived in La Union at 6 a.m. for breakfast. Oasis Country Resort has a 24-hour restaurant beside the hotel which is very convenient for travelers.


After breakfast, we went straight to our first stop, the Sabangan Cove Weaving Village in Santiago, Ilocos Sur which was two hours away. When you near the town proper of Santiago, watch out for signs pointing to Santiago Cove. The weaving village is where some of the higher-quality abel iloko cloth is woven. Ask around for the house of the barangay captain where many of the looms are located.


From Santiago, we drove over to Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur to visit the Sta. Maria Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which was inscribed as part of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines.


I was quite surprised vendors were selling grapes at Php25 a bag by the church. It turns out, these are grapes that are grown locally in Ilocos Sur. They're a bit small will large seeds bu sweet nonetheless. I wonder if a wine industry will follow.


We made another long drive to Batac, Ilocos Norte for a quick snack stop at Glory's Empanada. It's about two hours from Sta. Maria. For me, the best Ilocos empanada is the one served in Batac. Near the empanadahan is the Marcos Mausoleum where the preserved body of President Ferdinand E. Marcos lies in state.


We had a late lunch in Herencia Cafe in Paoay, Ilocos Norte which is most know for its Pinakbet Pizza, Dinuguan Pizza, Bagnet Pizza and other fusion and traditional Ilocano dishes. In front of the restaurant is the Paoay Church, a majestic example of Philippine Baroque architecture, and another UNESCO-inscribed church.


Our last two stops for the day were the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, a National Cultural Treasure, and the Bangui Wind Farm Project or the Bangui Windmills.

There were just too many people in the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse. I think it's about time they charge a little entrance fee to help in its upkeep and preservation with crowds wearing out this cultural treasure. There aren't even any restrooms.

For the Bagui Windmills, most people only pass by the view deck. But you could actually drive down to the beach for a better and close-up view of this massive sustainable energy project.


We arrived at the Kapuluan Vista Resort in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte at about 7 p.m. just in time for a sumptuous buffet dinner. The main dish was Kahlua Pig, which is pork cooked the traditional Hawaiian way, wrapped in banana leaves and buried in a pit of hot charcoal under the sand. We also had salads, grilled chicken, marlin kilawin and seafood sisig among other stuff.


Part 2: Road trip from Pagudpud to Vigan
Part 3: Arce Mansion in Vigan, a colonial Ilocano dinner experience
Part 4: Historic Town of Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part 5: Tres de Mayo Festival in Vigan, Ilocos Sur
Part 6: Where to stay in Vigan (Hotels & Accommodation)

Cavite: Visita iglesia to the heritage churches of Cavite

Cavite has a good number of intact heritage churches. Despite its proximity to Metro Manila, it was the first time I visited several of the churches. So here are some churches to visit if you want to do a visita iglesia in Cavite.



Our first stop was Kawit Church. According to the marker in front of the church, it became a Jesuit mission in 1624, with the first church of wood built in 1638 and placed under the patronage of Santa Maria Magdalena. The cornerstone of the current church was laid in 1737. It was transferred to the care of secular priests in 1768, and the Recollects in 1849. In 1869, President Emilio Aguinaldo was baptized in this church.


From Kawit, we drove all the way to the Maragondon Church, a National Cultural Treasure. It was first constructed by the Jesuits in 1618 under the patronage of the Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. A new church was constructed from 1630 to 1633, but was demolished between 1646 to 1649 to prevent it from becoming a Dutch fortress. The current stone church was constructed in 1714.

In 1768, it was transferred to the care of secular priests, and the Recollects in 1860. It became a base of the Philippine Revolutionary Army when Maragondon became the headquarters of the forces of Gen. Aguinaldo in 1897. It became a National Cultural Treasure in 2001.


On our way back to Manila, we passed by three more churches namely Naic, Tanza and Gen. Trias.


The convent of the Tanza Church played a significant role in Philippine history. It was where Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and Gen. Mariano Trias took their oaths as president and vice president of the Philippine Revolutionary Government on March 23, 1897 after their election at the Tejeros Convention the day before.


Gen. Trias Church was first constructed by the Franciscans in 1611 as a visita of Kawit. It was turned over to the Jesuit mission of Cavite Puerto in 1624. In 1753, the Church of San Francisco Malabon (the old name of Gen. Trias) became a separate parish.


The current stone church was constructed under the leadership of Dona Maria Josepha Yrizzari y Ursula, Condesa de Lizarraga in 1769. Her gravestone is still prominently seen by the main door of the church. It was in this church that the Banda Matanda practiced the Marcha Filipina before it was played during the June 12, 1898 declaration of Philippine independence.

Although we weren't able to visit the Silang Church, it's another interesting church which you should visit if you're in Cavite.