Place: Cebu, Philippines.
Dates: 29/30/31 October 2016.
Another impulsive trip, though planned about 3 weeks in advance. This was my second time to this city, the first time being in August 2015. I was pleasantly surprised to find that SQ/Silk Air had direct flights from SIN to CEB and back, which helped a lot in terms of saving on time on travel. I took the morning flight Saturday, 29 Oct 2016, thus touching terra firma in Mactan-Cebu International Airport about 20 minutes past noon. Though a smaller terminal in comparison, immigration, baggage claim and customs were smooth; I was in the taxi and headed to the city by 1:00 PM local time, and in the hotel by 1:45 PM.
This gave me the entire afternoon to scout and take some photos of the city centre, specifically the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, The Basilica Minore del Santo Niño (the oldest Church in the Philippines) and Magellan’s Cross. While I had been able to took take a couple of good photos last time of the Cathedral and Magellan’s Cross, I wanted better photos this time.
With the monsoon clouds rolling overhead, I got a very different background to Magellan’s Cross, though with a bunch of tourists wandering around and taking the usual, mandatory selfies (with pouts). The Basilica was crowded with a long line to visit the Chapel of Sto. Nino. With patience not being one of my virtues, I decided to skip the chapel. After paying due respect at the main church I wandered around the Basilica and the courtyard, where I got a couple of good photos.
The Pilgrim centre was being decorated for (possibly) lighting in the night, something that I did not have the energy to hang around until after sunset to see.
The Cathedral, as usual, had cars parked right in front of the main building, thus spoiling the view. With a wedding ceremony in progress (attended by a few locals who certainly were not part of the invitee list), I decided to leave and come back later, which happened to be the following Monday.
While the young lady at the front office could only refer the hotel’s bar on the 21st floor, which opens only at 6:00 PM, thanks to g-aunty, I was able to locate an Irish pub about a stone’s throw from the hotel. This Irish watering hole is open until 3:00 AM and is frequented mostly by expats, along with some locals. The local beer was cheap and good, but the Chicken Adobo, not so much (even for a Bengali, that too with a sweet tooth like mine, the Adobo sauce was sweet! I prefer it salty, spicy and oily).
Sunday, 30th October 2016 turned out to be a completely different day, with all my plans and timings being tossed out of the window. One of the reasons to make this trip was to visit the Sanctuary of Mama Mary on Marian Hills, Lindagon, Simala, a 2.5-3 hours drive by bus. The last time I had visited on 13th August 2015, it was a Thursday, with no crowd and no traffic and a lot of construction under way. This time, being a Sunday and as expected, it was crowded. The line to board the bus was long and took me almost an hour to board.The travel was 3 hours (mostly due to South bound traffic with the locals going to the provinces for All Souls day), followed by the usual motorcycle ride (habal-habal as the locals call it) from the highway to the Church. The Church has been under a constant stream of construction since the late 1990s. However, this time I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot more of the church had been completed and the visitors had to follow a different but a very nice pathway, with a view of the Marian Hills and the sea, to the church. The line to pray and pay respects to Mama Mary was pretty long, but surprisingly moved very fast. The Mass of course, was more than well attended, being a Sunday (Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the busiest).
After spending about 2 hours and buying a couple of souvenirs, I was back on the motorcycle to the highway. While I was planning to stop by at Shibonga for lunch and some seeing some local sights, I missed the bus stop. However, I got off the bus at Carcar city, and after wandering around, I found a not-local place run by a local to eat and chat with a couple of locals and an elderly Canadian gentleman. At around 4:00 PM local time, I was back on the bus to Cebu city, and in the hotel by 6:00 PM; not too bad for a Sunday.
For Monday morning, I had planned to walk around and photography around Magellan’s Cross, The Cathedral and The Basilica in the early hours of the morning. I woke up late to the (musical) ringing of the Church bells in the distance, and after a quick breakfast, I was still able to get some photos of Magellan’s Cross without the crowd much after the end of the golden hour. Being a working day, the Basilica was much less crowded and thus allowed me the opportunity to take photographs of the Altar and the courtyard and also visit the Chapel of Sto. Nino.
Morning Mass was taking place when I arrived at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. I had found the altar quite beautiful last time, and this time I was able to get a photo or two just after Mass. Also, being Monday and early, the Cathedral was free of cars and less crowded, which allowed me to get some cleaner photos without distractions.
After hanging out at the airport for a couple of hours, I was back on Silk Air’s flight to Singapore in the afternoon, the end of another trip with the main objective and purpose achieved.
PS: Bohol is a nearby island with a lot of old churches and on my wish-list for the next trip.
PS: I am told that there are a lot of wonderful, white sand beaches around Cebu and the nearby islands but then, this trip was not about beaches. May be another time, another day.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebu_City
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Cathedral_Museum_of_Cebu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebu_Metropolitan_Cathedral
http://basilicasantonino.org.ph/pages/basilica_complex.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_del_Santo_Niño
I have not been able to find the official website of the Simala-Lindogon shrine , but a search on google will yield tons of material.
How to get to Cebu:
From Singapore:
a) SIA/Silk Air operates daily direct flights from Singapore to Mactan-Cebu International Airport. Travel time is approximately 3 hours 20 minutes to 3 hours 45 minutes.
b) SIA/Silk Air also operates daily flights from Singapore with a transit stop at Davao.
Note: As of 31 October 2016, there was a departure fee of P750 to be paid in cash (in PHP or USD) at the Mactan-Cebu International airport for all international departures.
From Davao/Manila:
a) PAL and Cebu Pacific, both operate flights from Manila, Davao and Boracay to Mactan-Cebu.
Local transportation in Cebu: Jeepneys and White Taxis. There is a bus service, but I did not see much of it except near some parts of the city centre.
How to get to Simala (from Cebu):
Options are a) Private Taxi/Car, b) Vans, c) Buses.
Ceres Transport operates both Air-Con and Non Air-Con buses from Cebu South Bus Terminal (next to E Mall). Take the Bato via Oslob bus and ask the conductor/driver to drop-off at Simala Church. Air-Con buses cost P70 one way. From the drop-off point, there are motorcycles (P20 per person or P40 for a full motorcycle, for a one way ride) and motored tricycles that ply the 3 kms distance to the Church.
Vans depart from the Petrol Station across the road from the Cebu South Bus Terminal. These vans go all the way to the Church.
Festivals/Times to visit:
Simala Church:
13th of the month, when there is a special Mass, twice during the day. Avoid Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays if possible.
Cebu City:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinulog
The Sinulog-Santo Niño Festival is an annual cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, and is the center of the Santo Niño Catholic celebrations in the Philippines.
http://www.philippinecountry.com/philippine_festivals/sinulog_festival.html
http://www.philippinestravelhub.com/events/
Abhijit Dutta's Wanderlust. 