Iloilo: Seafood binge in Breakthrough Restaurant, Iloilo City

I'm in Iloilo City again. I arrived at the new Iloilo Airport this afternoon from Cebu. Bernard met up with me there and we took a cab to the city proper. I wasn't feeling that well so after a brief stopover at the old Iloilo City Hall which is now part of UP Visayas, I went back to the hotel and took a nap.

In the evening, Isa Silva and family took me to Breakthrough Restaurant in the Arevalo District for dinner. I'm not that fond of seafoods but it was a seafood binge for me. We had abalone sashimi, talaba and the pricey diwal shells for dinner among others. Everything is fresh and you can catch your dinner yourself. The restaurant is also by the beach so the breeze adds to the ambiance. After dinner, we had some dessert in Smallville.

Cebu: More heritage in Cebu City

I've already seen the major attractions of Cebu City before. So this time, we went around looking for old houses. Arnold first took me to the house of President Sergio Osmena which was bought by CAP. Sadly, they built a building right smack beside it ruining the proportion of open space around it. On one hand, I laud CAP for preserving old structures and opening them as free museums to the public. But on the other hand, they were very ill-advised with renovations and additions to the structures.

We then drove around the Sepulvida Street and Ramos areas since there are a number of colonial houses there. Among the places we checked out was the Archbishop's Palace and the Borromeo House. We also dropped by Parian to check out the Yap-Sandiego House and Casa Gorordo, a wonderful house museum restored by the Aboitiz Foundation.

Lunch was at a restored residence called Mooon Cafe. This was a wonderful example of adaptive reuse of a heritage structure. Many of the items in the menu are Mexican-inspired. For lunch, I had nachos and a burrito.

In the afternoon, we visited some institutional buildings. I have seen the Cebu Capitol from the outside, but it was my first time to enter. And lo and behold, there was a grand ballroom inside! Wow! At least this elegant feature of the building is still intact. Although there are layers of the usual kitsch decor and fixings typical of government offices, there is still hope if Governor Gwen Garcia has the interiors restored properly just like in Pangasinan.

From the capitol, we walked to the Rizal Memorial Library and Museum, another heritage government building.

For dinner, I met up with my Cebu-based brods at Cafe Laguna in Ayala Center. Tomorrow, I take a flight to Iloilo.

Cebu: Church heritage museums in Cebu City

I'm back in Cebu City to jump-start the HCS Youth - Cebu Chapter. Indeed, young people are taking the lead in the campaign to preserve our national heritage. It was a morning flight so I had the afternoon to go around. Our youth chapter president in Cebu, Arnold Sancover, met up with me at my hotel and we dropped by the Cathedral Museum of Cebu which is under restoration. The damage that had been inflicted on the old convent from years of misinformed improvements was slowly being erased with proper restoration. On top of things is Cebu-based restoration architect Melva Java.

At the museum, we were welcomed by Trizer Dale Mansueto of the Cebu Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. He will be responsible for organizing a chapter of HCS Youth in the University of San Carlos.

We then proceeded to the museum of the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino. While there, I noticed several ladies wearing white blouses and yellow skirts selling candles to churchgoers. It turns out, if you buy candles from them, as part of the service, they will dance and chant a prayer for you to the Sto. Nino before handing the candles over to you. So I bought some and whispered my petition to the lady who in turn started chanting a personalized prayer for me while dancing. After the prayer, she handed the candles over to me so that I could light them in a designated area outside the gates of the basilica.

Anyway, I didn't stay up late and I returned to my hotel to get some rest since just like my Leyte trip the week before, I didn't get much sleep while waiting for my flight. Since my hotel is in the vicinity of Fuente Osmena, I took some night shots. It was a pity I was too tired to have dinner in the New Larsian.