Paoay Church
On our first day in Ilocos, we went to Paoay Church. There was an impending rain with dark clouds closing the skies. Before the rain fell, I managed to get several shots of this UNESCO World Heritage site.
It was but fitting to return to this church and have a much closer look. The construction of Paoay Church (also known as the St. Augustine Church in Paoay) was started by the Augustinian friars in 1694. During the Philippine Revolution in 1898, its three-story coral stone bell tower was used by the Katipuneros as an observation post.
One of the four Baroque churches in the Philippines included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, Paoay Church was built using baked bricks, coral rocks, salbot (tree sap) and lumber, and has 24 carved massive buttresses for support. Below are some of the butresses in both left and right sides of the church.
Entering the church, you will be met by two angels holding the font for holy water. Here is one of them…
Here is the main altar…
The grotto-inspired theme for the images is prominent inside the church… Here is one of them…
The Spanish colonizers’ most powerful weapon ever devised…
Another view of the church. The sun is already up. The angle of the shot generated some lens flares.
Towards Calle Crisologo
After Paoay, we headed to Vigan. Vigan is the capital city of Ilocos Sur. It is a World Heritage site as it is the most intact example of a Spanish colonial town in Asia, and is known for its cobblestone streets particularly Calle Crisologo.
We parked near the Vigan Cathedral (also known as St. Paul Metropolitan Cathedral). This is another Baroque-styled church built in 1574 commissioned by Spaniard Juan de Salcedo.
While the others in our group went their different ways, I headed to Plaza Burgos. This is dedicated to Father Jose Burgos, one of the three Filipino priests executed on February 17, 1872 by Spanish colonial authorities on fabricated charges of subversion arising from the 1872 Cavite mutiny. This event enraged and left a profound and bitter effect on many Filipinos, especially on the young Jose Rizal.
Along the way to Calle Crisologo, there were many “calesas” parked beside the Vigan Cathedral. Tourists who want to have a city tour could ride in these carriages for PhP150.00 per hour.
The entrance to Calle Crisologo is marked by a statue of Leona Florentino, the most outstanding Filipina writer in the Spanish and Ilocano languages during the Spanish era. She was a relative of Jose Rizal (I think that word weaving runs in the family).
Finally, I have reached Calle Crisologo…
The facade of an antique store…
Only calesas are allowed along Calle Crisologo. No other vehicles are allowed except in the intersections.
Scenes like this abound along Calle Crisologo…
And since I am fulfilling the completion of a task in my bucket list, my travel would not be complete without buying some memorabilias. I bought different denominations of the Japanese government-issued Philippine fiat peso (also known as mickey mouse money) during WWII. I also bought an old wooden tobacco container of Tabacalera.
Along my way back, I have seen kids selling a native Ilocos delicacy, the “tinubong” (made of grated coconut, salt, ganta glutinous rice, bamboo tubes and bamban leaves). I bought some as well.
We all met at Cafe Leona for lunch. I then joined them for the rest of the Vigan tour on calesa.
To be continued…
Related post:
In case you want to have a tour of Ilocos, and you’ll be staying in Laoag, you may get in touch with Mang Lito, the man who offered to tour us around. His service is significantly low compared to arranged tours or packaged tours being offered by the hotels in Laoag. He may be contacted through his mobile phone: 09273387969.
I will not promote the hotel we stayed in. Although they had reasonably low room rates, good food and courteous staff, their water supply is not good – it’s yellow. Their room rates are also a bit tricky, as this caused a slight argument when we checked out
ganda talaga ng Ilocos, dahil sa mga istraktura inalagaan nagkakaroon tayo ng pagsulyap sa ating nakaraan nung sakop pa tayo ng mga kastila.
Ang gaganda ng mga kuha
Never been to Paoay Church. Pero sa Calle Crisologo, makakarelate ako dito. Dito kasi bahay ng best friend ko sa unahan lang. Yipeee! Vigan is really cool! And the food – naimas! I’ll comment later on the photos hehe…Pa sink-in muna ang mga moss-covered pillars…
wow, thank you so much for sharing this part of the Philippines to us Mark, looking at the pictures seem like going back in time, and I traveled through you
that staircase look so fascinating.
so beautiful, mark! daw nag-upod lang ko sa imo trip. wala pictures ang foods? nyahahaha!
i’ll bookmark your blog
nindot gyud ang paoay church bai mark. sa vigan diay to nimo palita ang bamboo rice…
I think I’ve just seen the best shot of Paoay Church ever! These shots were amazing… first, second, third and fourth part!!! I wanna visit Ilocos again!!! Unfortunately, I was so immature to just sleep in the bus when we toured Vigan! Wasted opportunity!!!
galing naman ng mga photos at may touch pa ng history. da bes ka!
ngayon ko lang nalaman na calle crisologo pala yun. hehe ilang beses kami dun nun pero diko naisip na tingnan kung anong lugar yun.
thanks for sharing these photos.
ser coolwaterworks sa next post ko ikakalat ko ang mga points of views mo at sa akin in tagalog para maintindihan ng lahat ha. ipinapaalam ko lang sayo kasi may mga gagamitin akong statements mo
Honestly, sa postcard ko lang to nakikita. dito clear na clear at napalucky mo naman!
uy happy father’s day to your dad! kung dad ka na rin, yay! syempre babatiin din kita ng happy father’s day!
hehe, dalawa na ba yun! uhm, sige, para maraming greetings! hehe.
ang ganda talaga diyan! dream ko rin pumunta dyan eh! gusto ko rin magpa picture sa mga malalaking electric fan sa tabi ng dagat!
kay gandang mga larawan..
Wow, ang mga kuha parts… not bad at all! Looks like Cuba to me and or one of the old towns in Mexico. Pilipinas beautiful.
Tag: inspiration
gusto ko din pumunta sa ilocos. ung sa vigan. rich talaga ang culture natin, di ko to papalampasin. gusto ko din ma-tour ang pinas. hayy.. nice pics btw. =)
as they all said, ang galing ng photos mo mark!
bow.