Fort San Pedro, Yap- San Diego Ancestral House, Casa Gorordo, Cebu Provincial Museum
My next stop after Boracay was Cebu City. After landing at the airport, I had to take a bus, and then a taxi, before reaching the hostel. After spending some more time resting and not doing much I looked around for some tours of the city, but they were either unavailable or too pricey for me.
Without many choices, I decided to go on my own and see what I can find. My first stop was Fort San Pedro, which was built under Spanish rule. At the entrance to the fort there were a couple of signs which provided a bit of history and some details about the fort and the people who were connected to it.
After paying the entrance fee (which had to be an exact amount), I got a private tour guide to show me around the place. We started the tour in the garden area, and quickly went inside the gallery, which featured several portraits of people of importance in the history of the fort. Surprisingly, there was also a Samurai suit on display. When I asked my guide about it, she said that after the Spanish, the Americans took over Fort San Pedro, and later on so did the Japanese.
As the gallery was small and there wasn’t much to look at (and learn about), My guide took me to the top of the fort, to walk along the walls and see the urban view. In each corner of the triangular building there was a bastion, overlooking a different area.
We started at bastion San Miguel, from there we went to Ignacio de Loyola, and the last stop was La Concepcion. While the bastions themselves were not different from each other, they had different views. In addition, there were different flowers around them, as well as some cannon replicas along the walls, as apparently the original cannons were stolen.
It turned out the fort was quite small, and the tour ended sooner than I expected. I thanked my guide and went around the place once more, this time by myself. The weather was nice and I enjoyed walking around the place, even despite its size. After I went around all the bastions again, I went back down and left the fort.
My next destination in Cebu City was Yap- San Diego Ancestral House. This time, I didn’t see any signs, and there was no guide. It was a small and quite old house, where some important family used to live. As far as I could understand, it was depicting the lifestyle they had at the time. Along with the Spanish furniture, there was also a lot of faith, with many Christian symbols and statues spread around the place. There were also a couple of Chinese sculptures, such as a dragon, which to me seemed out of place, although there wasn’t anyone I could really ask about it. After going over the two floors of the small house, I left the place and went on my way.
After walking around for a little bit I arrived at another historical house, Casa Gorordo. When I got inside the house, it looked a lot bigger than I initially thought it was. I was given a tablet with an audio guide and was recommended to follow the guide in order to learn the full story of the place, and learn it in order.
The first sign, number 1, was marked on the floor, and I played the corresponding video as I walked around the first floor of the house. I was only half listening to it, as I found it slow and not very entertaining, but it was still nice to have it in the background. The first room had some Christian sculptures in it, along with some agricultural tools. The first part of the audio guide ended, referring me to a 3D map for my next stop. I was not able to locate any map, should I just moved on to the next room, which had some animal drawn carriages, as well as a display of miniature vehicles that were used in the area.
At the far end of the room there were some stairs. However, when I looked up, I saw another audio guide sign, but instead of being number 2, it was number 10. I stood there confused for a moment, before I went back to the first room, and had to look around carefully in order to find sign number 2. From there on, I knew I had to pay more attention to what’s around me in order to spot the signs. With every part of the audio guide, I grew more and more bored of it. To its credit, the guide was detailed, providing information about the house, the district it was in, and the people who lived in it. I just had trouble following along and wanted to move more quickly.
Eventually I made my way up the stairs and to the second floor of the house, which I found a lot more impressive. I also found it easier to spot the signs for the audio guide there, although I may have gotten used to looking for it at that point.
The second floor of the house had a few bedrooms in it, and the audio guide provided details on who would typically be in each bedroom. There was also a kitchen and a bathroom, which were additions and not part of the original plan of the house. Only half listening to the guide, I moved around between the different rooms without delaying too much. After taking a look at the rooms inside the house, I made my way to the final stop of the audio guide, the balcony area. There was a nice little view of the house garden, and the balcony itself felt like an enjoyable and relaxing place. I could easily see why the residents of the house would have wanted to spend some time there. As the final part of the audio guide came to an end I handed the tablet to one of the staff members and left the house, feeling like I had an interesting time, although I could have learned more if I paid more attention.
The last stop of my tour around Cebu City was Cebu Provincial Museum, or Museo Sugbo. Just like in Fort San Pedro, here too I was accompanied by a tour guide. There were several different rooms in the museum with a small open area at the end.
We started the tour by learning about life in Cebu prior to the arrival of the Spanish. On display there were mainly tools that were used at the time, for food and water storage as well as trade with other countries and cultures. From there we went on to look at the life in Cebu during the Spanish colonization, the changes that were made, and there was one special room dedicated to Magellan and his time in the Philippines, from his arrival to his death.
Then, as I was surprised to find out, the reason English is a common language in the Philippines is because of the USA. After Spain sold the Philippines to the USA, American English teachers came over and taught English all across the country. And as far as I understood from my guide and the signs that were spread around the museum, they stayed there until the Japanese took over during World War 2.
There was also a bit of cultural and political history, famous radio broadcasters, writers, and political leaders. That part of the tour was a bit less interesting for me, although it did provide a bit of extra detail.
Although the tour was a bit shorter than I thought it would, I still managed to learn a bit about the history of the island. I’m not sure how much more information I actually got from my guide, as opposed to simply walking around by myself and reading all the signs, but it was still nice to have someone explain things to me.
Unfortunately, that was the last day of my trip. Due to a medical issue, I was not able to travel around the Philippines. And with my time in this country coming to an end, I thought about what I experienced. Knowing it is a country of islands in Southeast Asia, I expected to be close to the beach at all times without spending a lot of money, but the reality was far from it. Although the journey was cut short and I was not able to see everything that I wanted, the prices were higher than I expected, and most of the time I was far from the beach. When I did get to the beach, however, it was very beautiful and relaxing.
For me, the country as a whole was not that impressive, but the people were among the most welcoming that I got to know. At least some of it is due to their level of English, but there is certainly a cultural aspect there as well. The people, more than anything else, are the best part of the country.
With my time in the Philippines coming to an end, so is my adventure in Asia. I’ll come back to this continent eventually. There are some places I’d like to visit again, as well as some new places that might be worth exploring. I was not prepared for it, and I couldn’t expect to discover all that I did. Not everything as good, but overall it was an incredible experience to have.