Welcome to Vigan!

Visiting Vigan was a total dream come true for me as I really love to go here since then. So this year, I’ve decided to finally visits the city of Vigan. It is best known for its preserved Spanish colonial and Asian architecture, the roads were made of cobblestones which is known as the Calle Crisologo, horse-drawn carriages or the “kalesa” and rustic mansions. It’s a 8-10 hours long drive from Metro Manila, yeah! it’s quite a long so better to travel as much as early as you can like us we took Partas Bus in Cubao terminal around 2 AM and we reached Vigan City by 12 NN.

 

There are many hotels in Vigan that you could choose that offers good services and comfort while you’re in Ilocos Sur. As for us, we chosen something quite fancy in a not so expensive stay. We decided to stay for 3 days and 2 nights at Hotel Luna, for convenience  we booked thru Travel Asia which has the cheaper price and discounts compared to others. Our stay in Hotel Luna was great, the staffs were very kind and polite. The hotel was clean and quiet, it was designed in a Spanish colonial-style, inside has a museum, an outdoor pool sits in the middle. The food that they served on breakfast buffet was delicious and what I really love was they have rooftop and bar. Overall it was really recommended to everyone that wants to experience a luxury in a budgeted way.

 

There are a lot of places to go in Vigan, especially museums, mansions and churches. Although we haven’t had a chance to get to every places, below were the places that we had visited during our stay in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

• Calle Crisologo – enjoy exploring the Calle Crisologo which was made of cobble-stones, left & right you will see ancestral house, cafes, resturants and souvenir shops. From any time of the day you’ll be amazed of how it was great.

• Bantay Church and Bell Tower – here you can visit  the Bantay church and climb up the Bell Tower. Besides that it’s one of the most iconic symbol in Ilocos Sur. Did you know that this was became the most favorite dating spot of Diego and Gabriela Silang.

• Vigan Cathedral – canonically known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines.

• Baluarte Zoo – it was owned by Chavit Singson, here you can took  a ride to tour you around for 50 pesos. You can see here, different kinds of animals such as horses, deers, llamas, ostriches and a lot more. There is also a museum where you can see a lot of wild animals being taxidermied which we all know that Chavit Singson loves hunting. Seeing those animals breaks my heart!

• Burnayan – it means pottery, here you can see how to make pots and vases which are made of mud. You can also try to make one but honestly guys I tried to make one. It make look easy but damn! it was harder than I thought, though it was a great experience. Just be careful you’re OOTD might get ruined.

• Elpidio Quirino National Museum – basically this was the old Ilocos Sur provincial jail, where the former President Elpidio Quirino was born, now houses precious paintings and artifacts of the Ilocandia. You can see here the replicas of the late 6th President of the Philippines’ bedroom and office. In his bedroom there were a collections of  hats and shoes which I am fascinated about. Thinking how dashing Mr. Elpidio Quiriono was during the 1900’s.

• Kalesa Tours – one thing that you must never forget to try was to ride a Kalesa or horse-drawn carriage. You can enjoy here for just 150 pesos of an hour and you can visits ll the nearby tourist spots around the city of Vigan. While taking this ride it brings you back to past where horses are the main mode of transportation. It has been a great experience.

 

When I heard Vigan, I initially think of longganisa, bagnet, and empanada but there were a lot of things to offer, new tastes, great delicacies. From the long strip of Calle Crisologo there were a lot of cafes, restaurants and food stalls available some where open late afternoon onward. Vigan really brings a lot of flavors and another level of our traditional cuisines.

• Pinakbet Farm – it’s located outside the vicinity of Vigan, Pinakbet Farm sits in Caoayan, Ilocos Sur which is pretty far from Vigan, having your own ride is advisable. The place looks very provincial surrounded by farms, ponds where pretty obvious that they served fresh vegetables and fish. Upon entering  you can here a live band serenades you while enjoying your food, they will also serves you first with an ice cold lemon grass tea which was so refreshing. Apparently here, they don’t have a list of menu, they just offer one set of meals for everyone in which includes; pinakbet place on a bamboo, pork, grilled chicken, grilled fish, seaweeds, balicotia (a sweet delicacy of Vigan) and unlimited rice! yeah! The exciting part you must eat with your bare hands.

• BarTech – if you want to good food and good music this was the place to be. Also it was a great place also to chill and get drunk when you are on a budget. You must try also the “sinanglaw” it was popular soup in  Vigan made with pork and it tastes almost similar to papaitan and sinigang combined. Best paired with a pint of iced cold beer.

• NSCC Bath and Coffee –  as I am craving for some tapsilog, we came up here to this place situated in Gov. A. Reyes St. in Vigan The ambience was good, the services were great and they also have a wide range of food selections from pasta, sandwich, cakes and coffees.

• Cafe Uno – as I am searching for best coffee shop that we could find in Vigan. Mr. Google brought us here at Cafe Uno in Bonifacio St. somewhere across Calle Crisologo. What I like about to this coffee shop was that the presentation of the cake it’s pretty unique.

• Vigan’s  Famous Empanada – a must try empanada here in Vigan although I have tasted this already in Manila but somehow it’s different when you eat it where it was originally came from. The Vigan empanada was made of Vigan longganisa, egg, unripe papaya and onions wrapped in a rice flour and deep fried. Try this with sukang iloko or ketchup.

• Bagnet – another must try when you’re in Vigan was the special bagnet. It was indeed the best, super crispy and tender. I can’t stop eating this! Though watch your blood pressure it’s a “putok-batok” dish.

• Cafe Bigaa – for our final stretch in Vigan, located at the end of Calle Crisologo. A wide range of selections are also present. We ordered fish and chips, dinengdeng, and poqui-poqui (a mashed eggplant) it sounds weird but yeah, it’s delicioso!

 

Besides of relaxing, eating and visiting tourist spots in Vigan, another major part of my trip was to create contents for my blog. Below were the random moments during my shoots in Vigan I called it “In – between moments”.