Visita Iglesia around the Philippines

Whenever we hear the term Visita Iglesia, we normally associate it with visiting a number of churches during the Holy Week, most especially on Maundy Thursdays.

This post refers to churches or shrines which we had visited during our travels. Visita Iglesia literally means church visits. They say that whatever you wish on the first time you visit a church will be granted. I am not sure if this is true but we do go to the church to thank God that we had arrived safely and for Him to protect us during our travels.

The churches are not arranged chronologically but on how the blogger loads them here, he he he. Here goes:

Although this church is near my wife's hometown of Pangil, this is the first time I had visited the place. We were able to visit the place to attend a church wedding. The San Pedro de Alcantara church in Paete, Laguna was built in the 17th century and may be one of the best preserved churches in Laguna.

Bantayan Island - a slice of paradise

Bantayan Island has always been one of our dream destinations. However, time and money constraints have always prevented us from going there. Finally, last March my officemate and I planned about going there with my family and her siblings. We searched the airline websites and checked out the only available long weekend after holy week, June 11 - 14, 2009. We will be applying for a one day leave in order to have a 4-day weekend. We finally booked our tickets with the Philippine Airlines: The first flight going to Cebu and the last flight returning to Manila in order to maximize our time in Cebu.

Cebu - Bohol Trip

Our plan to visit both Cebu  and Bohol materialized when I was able to book a promo fare from Cebu Pacific. Our plan was to stay for one night in Cebu City and take the fast craft to Tagbilaran the following morning and from there return to Manila from Tagbilaran airport in Bohol.

From Mactan airport we walked a flight of stairs outside where a line of taxis are waiting for passengers. We asked the driver to take us to our hotel in downtown Cebu, which I found through the internet, the Hotel Mercedes in downtown Cebu.. The hotel was a bit old but since we're just staying for the night, we thought that it will do.

After settling in, we asked the hotel staff how to get to the Sto. Nino Shrine, Cathedral and Fort San Pedro which are all just within walking distance from the hotel. They gave us a map to give us bearing on how to get to the places we planned to visit.

Walking along Colon Street, claimed to be the oldest street in the Philippines, we turned right to Lrgaspi street and eventually found the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. We entered the church and lingered for a while.