We woke up feeling rejuvenated and psyched for the last day of our adventure. So after our morning rituals, we headed down the cafeteria to grab our free breakfast. You have a choice from their set menus or you can add some bucks to get their specials. I settled for beef pares and coffee. 😀
We coordinated our calesa tour with Kuya Mark the night before and honestly, we were a bit hesitant to take on this tour because we initially thought of it as ‘expensive’ as it will take around 3-4 hours to complete the whole tour. So what triggered our change of heart? I reasoned with my gal pals that we spend around that much money for coffee alone, so why not spend a little more for something worthwhile? On that note, we confirmed our reservation for our calesa tour the next day. 😉
We had some spare time as we wait for our dear coachman (ok fine, kutsero), Manong Jaime. What better way to spend idle time than more picture-taking and souvenir-shopping? And the guys at Grandpa’s Inn were more than willing to indulge us and we were more than happy to pose. (^_^) They sure know the places tourists would love to have their pictures taken within their charming premises.
Around 830AM, Manong Jaime finally arrived and we jumpstarted the tour as we only have until noon (earlier would be better) to finish the whole tour because we intend to take the 130PM bus schedule to Manila.
Calesa Tour
- Bantay Church and Bell Tower
- Syquia Mansion
- Simbaan a Bassit (you’ll pass by this cemetery chapel en route to Crisologo Museum)
- Crisologo Museum
- Pagburnayan
- Hidden Garden
- Baluarte Zoo (we skipped this one due to lack of time)
From Hidden Garden, we requested to be dropped off at Café Leona along Calle Crisologo for our last meal before we head back to Manila. As our Longganiza Pizza will be served in 15 minutes, I took the chance to wander one last time while my friends stayed in the cool comforts of the resto.
These places are within walking distance from Café Leona:
- St. Paul’s Metropolitan Cathedral and Bell Tower
- Plaza Burgos
- Plaza Salcedo
Since we still had time to buy more pasalubongs, we strolled towards Trellis again but this time we walked past it towards the building where Greenwich is. Inside is Marsha’s, the stall of the much talked about brownies and bibingka. People love it for its moistness but for me it’s just ok, nothing really special about it.
By 12:30PM, we walked back to Grandpa’s Inn to check out (they didn’t charge us for the extra half hour, maybe because we checked in at 7PM 🙂 ) and grab our stuff. We took the trike to Partas terminal and we were just in time before the 1:30PM bus leaves for Manila.
Homebound at last. And based on calculations, we will arrive in Manila at around 9:30PM.
How utterly wrong we were. We arrived 11:45PM at the Cubao terminal. That’s more than 11 hours of butt-numbing ride!
Tip: According to my officemate, we were lucky that the bus made just 3 stopovers because buses often have as much as 5 stopovers to pick up passengers. This is because bus companies incur loss (‘lugi’) as they aren’t usually full compared when they leave Manila.
Partas has a non-stop trip back to Manila which costs around Php1,300. This bus has its own toilet so stopovers are not necessary.
 Details:
Calesa tour-4hrs (Php150/hr+50-tip) (Php650/3) 217
Bantay Church 20
Syquia Mansion fee         20
Crisologo Museum (donation) Php50/3 17
Trike fare to terminal (Php45/3) 15
Bus fare from Vigan to Manila 645
TOTAL 934
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- Our calesa tour with Bruno the Horse and coachman Manong Jaime.
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- Bantay Church is one of the oldest churches in Ilocos having been constructed in the 1500s.
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- The interior of Bantay Church
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- The belfry of Bantay Church is built as a separate structure, just like the ancient churches in the region.
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- Atop the belfry of Bantay Church
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- The Syquia family crest engraved on the headboard
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- Old houses have servant alleys that run around the structure so that servants don’t use the main entryways.
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- An authentic vase from the Ming Dynasty. It has a seal at the bottom that certifies its authenticity and taking picture of such seal is prohibited.
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- You can pass by Simbaan a Bassit, a cemetery chapel, en route to Crisologo Museum.
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- Sign up and give your donation at the entrance and shoot away as there are no restrictions on photography at the Crisologo Museum.
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- A very ancient ref that is reminiscent of a not-so-old Pinoy horror flick.
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- Testament of survival
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- Trying out the antique toilet at the Crisologo Museum; what a time saver!
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- The Pagburnayan in Vigan is ran by Fidel Antiporda Go and he is really hands-on. He gets down and dirty with his employees. We even chatted with him for a bit. Nice fellow!
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- This is where the clay jars are “baked”. You can imagine the heat down here.
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- The clays are all lined up and ready for molding.
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- I love how efficient they are at doing their tasks.
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- The Hidden Garden restaurant
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- This is the calesa’s horn.
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- We capped off our Ilocos adventure with a longganiza pizza from this resto.
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- The belfry of the St. Paul’s Metropolitan Cathedral.
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- The Cathedral of Vigan is also known as St. Paul’s Metropolitan Cathedral.
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- Our very short stay at Grandpa’s Inn was so enjoyable and unforgettable… thanks to Kuya Mark (the one on my left) and Kuya Tangkad [so sorry I forgot your name 😦 ]
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- Tinubong is an Ilocano delicacy; a mixture of sticky rice (I think), sugar, coconut milk and coconut strips. You can store this in the fridge then heat it over low fire atop the stove.
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- The sunset viewed from the bus window. I can’t believe our three-day adventure is over.
I mostly write about travels & tips, music and life in general. Nothing too serious; some funny, sarcastic stuff every so often. I am an amateur photography hobbyist who still has a long way to go. And as what is essential in this hobby, FOCUS!
