Cebu: Queen City of the South

I don't know why but writing has been really awkward these past few days for me. See? I can't even write a proper introduction to my new post. Anyway, I want to share the first travel experience I had that convinced me of how much my life would be so much better if I had a tour around the world. Well it's not technically the first trip I had, it was Singapore back in 2009, but this one was a hooker. I was hooked since then.

Cebu is practically one of the cities you can visit that has the perfect province and metro vibe altogether. We didn't make a plan for this trip until we were in the airport, 30 minutes or less away from boarding. And it wasn't exactly the perfect trip -we went out of our budget because of too much cab transfers, and there was no booking made ahead except for our hotel. We weren't exactly able to talk about where we would be going or what places and restaurants are we going to check out, but being the control freak that I am... I made a list none of them knows and then kind of insisted on it when we were talking. Just to let you all know, this was not the first time I've been to Cebu. However, the place is beautiful and there is so much you have to go back for.

We arrived at approximately 10 in the morning and agreed that since it's almost time for lunch, we'll just have a quick check-in at the hotel, bit of rest, and then out to eat and explore the city. As I told you, this isn't exactly the perfect trip so you better get ready for the mishaps. And it started out at lunch. Wait! First you have to know that I do have a sort of regular travel buddies so you'll read about them as much in here. Marianne is one of them and she insisted on eating in Zubuchon, and since we previously rejected her idea of going to Oslob to swim with the whale shark, we decided that we should probably give this to her. So we did eat there and ordered the ever famous Cebu lechon, sinigang na hipon, and adobong kang-kong.

Just a piece of advise, you can click the photos for an even larger view.

Sinigang na Hipon

Cebu Lechon

Mind you, the sinigang was actually good, and the lechon as well but it felt that there was something missing. You should probably try it at CnT when you're there. It ranks #1 for Cebu's lechon. It's probably good! So we went through our city tour and proceeded to Magellan's Cross and Basilica del Sto Niño.

Basilica del Sto Nino

Magellan's Cross

Just 10-15 minutes walk away is Cebu's Fort San Pedro which looks like Manila's famous Intramuros. It has a museum inside that houses paintings from the 17th to 18th century.

Fort San Pedro

We spent around 20-30 minutes wandering and proceeded to the oldest street in Cebu, which is not exactly a place to go to anymore since most of the buildings are already renovated and it's not really a site to see. I recommend you use your time to see other places instead. As it was already about to go dark, we hurried to Mactan Shrine and again rode a cab back to the city center to check out Skywalk Extreme. We got the package amounting to P999 which includes the sky walk, the edge coaster, and a buffet dinner. It was my second time to try it but it was still equally fun and awesome!

Mactan Shrine

Cebu Skywalk Extreme & Edge Coaster

It has been a really long day for us and on the way home, we agreed to check out Kawasan Falls and eat at Casa Verde for dinner on Day 2. One more point for me! I'll talk about Day 2 tomorrow as this post is already as good as a novel.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed this one. Happy travels!

Love,

Faye