Cebu City Tour in One Day

Oh, it’s been a while since my last post…. Quite busy with so many things. But hey, got another one about our last trip. :))

Since I wanted to surprise hubby with a different way of celebrating his birthday, I booked a flight several months ago without him knowing. A few days before his birthday, I decided to let the cat out of the bag so that he can file a leave of absence before our flight. He was kinda “surprised” and “speechless” when he learned about that. YES! 🙂

We headed to Cebu with no hotel in mind to go. That was the first time we went out of town and did not bother to book a hotel. I was too confident that we can find one. So upon reaching Mactan, we decided to drop by Mactan Shrine. I cannot remember how many rides we had taken. From the airport, we took the blue cab with the “Merkado” signboard. Then took another jeepney with the “Punta Engano” signboard. Going to Mactan Shrine was a very long ride. Tip: Ask the driver to drop you off at the Mactan Shrine. It’s before Shangrila Mactan resort.

From the shrine, we rode another jeepney with the “Highway” signboard. Then we asked the driver to drop us off where we could take a jeepney to Cebu. We were instructed then to take a jeepney with “Colon J’ signboard. Wrong jeepney… I thought any COLON signboard would take us to Colon Street. Of course, I was wrong. 😦 Their jeepney routes were quite confusing, most especially to first timers like us. Tsk tsk tsk…

We were able to reach Colon Street. As we were trying to look for Ms Sherry Pension House, the hostel where I was planning to book for, we found Mercedes Hotel. Because of the creepy look of the Pension House, we opted to stay at Mercedes Hotel though it was quite pricey compared to the other one. No regrets! :)) Soon after getting enough rest, we started our walking tour through the help of the map I copied from google map. 🙂

Mactan Shrine

Lapu Lapu Monument

Mactan Shrine Tablet

Heritage of Cebu

Lapu Lapu and his men (Heritage of Cebu)

Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House (P100 entrance fee)

The pricey entrance fee stopped us from getting in. 🙂 Nothing much to see aside from old furniture and stuff that can be seen from the opened door. We opted to take a peek at the Casa Gorordo Museum. Oh boy, no photography allowed. The house was great, old stuff used from the past was preserved with care, from the dining wares to the wooden beds. One of the things I learned: Guests of the family were not allowed to get inside the house, they can only stay at the living room near the house entrance.

Casa Gorordo Museum facade

Casa Gorordo Museum (P40 Entrance Fee)

Entrance of Fort San Pedro (P40 Entrance Fee)

Fort San Pedro

Inside Fort San Pedro

Magellan’s Cross

This was where I had fun the most. Colorful candles have meanings according to their color. And manangs wearing yellow blouse and red skirt will dance as they pray for you. You have the choice not to leave the candles. It can be brought inside the Basilica or can be brought at home. Take your pick! Candles were not being lighted here because all of the candles here are being offered in the church, where these candles will all be lighted. 🙂 Manangs here were also approachable. For a souvenir pic, we approached the manang who danced for me to take a picture of us. She’s so kind to do so. :))

Colorful Candles (with meaning) at P10 each.

Basilica of Sto. Nino

The Original Sto. Nino Image

Pilgrim Center (P10 Entrance Fee; No Photography)