Visiting Paoay Church

Roadtrip Day 2: Laoag and Paoay Church

Built of coral blocks and stucco-plastered bricks, the architecture is a unique combination of Gothic, Baroque and Oriental. Construction of the church was started in 1704 and completed in 1894. A few meters away is the coralstone belltower which served as observation post of the “Katipuneros” during the Philippine Revolution. Paoay Church is included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Paoay is located west of Batac, southwest of Laoag City and north of Currimao. Situated 480 kilometers north of Manila and 23 kilometers south of Laoag City, it is bounded on the north by Laoag City and San Nicolas, on the south by Batac and Currimao, on the east by Batac, and on the west by the South China Sea.

It is believed that the early inhabitants came from Bombay, India, because the first name of the town was Bombay. Settlers of the early days usually named the settlement they founded after the name of the place they came from, When the Malays arrived they overthrew the Indians. Those who were left married the Malays and this made it hard to trace the origin of either of the two races (Indians and Malays).

I gave vigan another go today.. i wanted to capture a different Vigan from the photos I shot the day before..

I was lucky enough to get some sky into my picture.. when i left manila it was raining for a couple of days now
the sky was clear till mid afternoon then it started to rain again. lucky me..

Visiting Vigan

The travel bug bit me again!

Road Trip Day 1: Vigan

Just got back from Vigan.. didnt think it was that far but checked kilometer reading when I got back home. 932 Kilometers wow.. what a trip!

The old city of Vigan lies north of Manila and can be reached by bus. Travel time can take from eight to twelve hours depending on how heavy the traffic is going out of Manila. It took us 10 hours, got stuck in Tarlac traffic.

Vigan is famous for the old massive stonewalls and Spanish brick houses which date back to the Spanish colonization period.

Things to do while in Vigan. Eat! Eat Eat! sample the local longganisa which you can buy in the market for Php 30 a kilo, bagnet, bibingka (in vigan their bibingka is made out of Cassava) and the empanadas at the town plaza.

You can take a tour around town on a calesa. The trip will start you off at Calle Crisologo, then take you to the museum, the pottery maker, the Churches and the bell tower

Vigan is also famous for antique furnitures and pottery.

i just love this particular image.. so powerful.. and striking..

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