walking around intramuros again

After a nice Pasig river ferry ride from Guadalupe last Saturday, we walked around Intramuros, one of the default must-stops for visitors to Manila.

Literally “within walls”, Intramuros was the creme de la creme of real estate in the Spanish times, where the richest and most powerful congregated and stayed.

The ferry docked at the Plaza Mexico station, where we were greeted by this monument in honor of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade.

Notice the Guardia Sibil in full get-up! All the Intramuros guards wear this period piece now… can I say hot (as in maiinit!!)?

This very spot was eerie for me– I dreamt it before, and was scared zombies would come out of the ruins and run after me!

But yes, we do have actual ruins in Intramuros…

…and there is an actual initiative led by Senator Gordon to restore the walls…

Bravo for him, if only he can only put a stop to this scandalous “restoration” of the San Agustin Church…

…which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and should be protected from looking like a contemporary cemented building!!!

Mukha pa ba siyang stone church???? Huhuhuhu.

The outer walls of Intramuros still stand though, and were such a delight to walk on…

The simple joys of a Saturday afternoon around Manila.

We capped the day with ice cream at Illustrado–tasted like a “burol” or funeral wake according to a friend, but I took a liking to it. Reminded me of rosewater, or lavender candies I had in Madrid before–so yummm!!  Not cheap though at Php90/scoop.

Another find on this trip was the Silahis Center on Gen. Luna St., an “emporium of Philippine Art Craft and Culture”, where I found a nice print of drawings of San Agustin Church and Plaza Cervantes (it’s actually gift wrapping paper, but for Php25, it’s making my wall happier now!).

I never entered Silahis before, thinking it would be a tourist trap, but prices of their native baskets were reasonable!  Last February, I went around Tiendesitas looking for a basket for use as a hamper, and found a lovely one for Php750 at 40% off!  Similar ones I saw in Silahis were selling for Php750 at the original price.  They even have Intramuros maps for free there (care of the Intramuros Admninistration):

You can also download the map from Intramuros Administration website.

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My old posts on Intramuros:

More Intramuros pics – June 2005
Death of a City – August 2005