Visiting Intramuros

After we roam around the vicinity of rizal park we decide to visit other tourist attraction like the Chinese temple and national museum of Anthropology. It's already 11 AM and the sun is so hot and we are also dehydrated that's why we decide to find a food corner which we gonna take our lunch. We walk a hundred meters until we reach Intramuros since it's the only place there which there are karinderia and restaurant are in. As I look around I was amazed how beautiful Intramuros is. There are still houses from Spanish Era which is still standing and preserved, some houses are renovated and stand a business but the remains of old house is still there. There's even a fully intact house which is truly old, the windows are made of bamboos, the design of the house is Spanish style and the doors is huge made of wood.

There are also fancy restaurant around and we can't afford the price to eat that's why we choose the cheaper one, Intramuros is such a beautiful place however there are people residing on different part of it, maybe they owned the land that's why why have the right to reside there. I was amazed on different things I saw around, hopefully my classmate really knows everything in Intramuros that's why he served as our tour guide. We eat inside the karideria and people there are so accommodating, I am so hungry to the point that I ordered sisig, adobong squid, 3 cups of rice, my classmates was surprised to see me eating a lot though I'm so thin. After we finished eating, we rest for awhile then continue our journey.

We entered first at Milk Tea shop and we order our drinks, I ordered Creamcheese Oreo which I though fully sweet but when I drink it, it's still taste medicine. We continue walk around until we reached the entrance of Palacio De Gobernador in which it's the presidential palace of Gobernador Heneral of the Philippines before but now it's serve as a place if politicians will file their certificate of Candidacy. It's my first time seeing the place and I was amazed on it. We continue walking until we reach the entrance of Fort Santiago, a little historical background about Fort Santiago, it was a place where prisoners are detained, it was located near at Pasig river and it is one of the famous attraction inside the Intramuros.

There's an entrance free before enter inside, if you are a student and shown an ID then you will only pay 50 pesos but if you have no ID then you need to pay 75 pesos, I have no ID that's why I pay 75 pesos. We first admire the entrance and there are lots of things to see, there's a old bridge which still intact and there's a fish pond under it. We enjoy looking at those big fishes but the most exciting part is entering the door of Fort Santiago. My classmate said that if you have third eye then you can't stand to stay inside since there are lots of people died inside, prisoners before are tortured, killed, raped, executed, etc.

I have no third eye but I can feel how terrifying the place is, we enter inside the ruins and my hair throughout the body shivered, there are photos shown the original structure of the house. Then we decide to visit the museum of Rizal which he was detained, his works are all inside but all of them are replica since the original items are located in National Museum. Atthe entrance there's a board which you can see the timeline of rizal before and after he died, then inside you can see where rizal was first detained, the atmosphere is so heavy there's an actual photo which he was writing his piece titled MI Ultimo Adios, then at the next room you can see the how rizal was prosecuted with death via firing squad.

At the second floor you can see different works of rizal, his novel Noli and El Fili, his poems, his letters, his family, his collections, his clothing and many more. After we took photos and admire the museum we finally entered the Fort Santiago. I don't know that it was near at Pasig river, the first thing we do is go on rooftop which there are square holes at different corner then my classmate told us that it's the place where prisoners are held, it has no roof and open space for extreme heat, there are tunnels but it's too narrow. If there's a rain and flood, prisoners are just there drowned, I can't imagine how drastic happened on that place not until we enter at the dungeon which is located below the fortress.

It's a place where prisoners are held, there are tunnels which soldiers can use. The photos told the stories already, there are 400 prisoners died in torture, 600 prisoners died due to suffocation, hunger and drowned. There's even a little girl died and leave their body inside the prison decomposing. The most terrifying part of the dungeon is in the last corner which I tried to go but I almost vomit due to lack of air and heavy atmosphere. I can't stand the place that's why we decide to go out but we entered on it again for second time. It's nice to visit this kind of place that became part of history, even if it has dark past still it opens the eyes of Filipinos to fight and achieve freedom from conquerors.