An afternoon stroll

Yesterday, after 7 months of being at home and afraid to go out because of the virus scare me and my sibling decided to have an afternoon stroll in Vigan City with the kids. A 30-minutes travel from home. I felt excited and wonder how Vigan look like now.

Last January was my last visit there, during their feast, there was a parade of floats and street dancing. There were a lot of people from all over the Philippines and tourist from different parts of the world that we could hardly see the all tye entries and my daughter just decided to go home. Vigan is famous for their preserved old streets and houses. It is also hailed as one of the 7-new wonders of the world. Check Mr. Google for more info😁.

This is the first building that you can see in the Calle Crisologo, the most famous of the streets in Vigan. It has this Spanish Era feels because of the colors the house or structures styles, cobbled stone streets and many more. And you can see calesa (horse drawn carriage) roaming around the streets where tourist and locals ride to enjoy the city. I heard that it is one of the city government requirement to new businesses to keep this kind of setting, a heritage village one.

You can count by fingers the number of people roaming around the famous street, unlike before the lockdown that you can hardly get a solo or nice shot because people roams around and pose like every corner of the street. No souvenir shop was also open yesterday. Souvenir shops and calesa business are the most affected business in the city this pandemic.

You cannot leave Vigan without visiting this famous Vigan Cathedral or Saint Paul Cathedral, one of the oldest church in the region. 'The first church was built in 1641 and was damaged by earthquake in 1619 and 1627. A third church was burned in 1739.'(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigan_Cathedral) The interior of the church is highly maintained as you can still see the old pulpits where the priests used to say their homily.

We were not able to go inside the church yesterday because there was an on-going construction inside and in the facade. I just took some snaps as remembrance and for social media purposes.

After a quick tour of the city, we head on the Banauang Bridge just a 10-15 minutes drive. We had a picnic there and took a lot of pictures with the kids. Look how gorgeous was our backdrop. Two mountains and a lake! It was not that sunny yesterday so we enjoyed running back and forth the whole bridge. There were some riders who also visited the bridge and just like us enjoy the scenery.

From the scene we see and captured, I must say that pandemic help Mother Earth heal and revive. I like what I saw, I am happy with how green the mountains now.

The new normal changed many of our travel goals a lot, from an outgoing people to now a home buddy. I personally just want to stay home and be safe, plant some more and enjoy the feeling of security and create more precious memories with my family especially with my daughter. We can go out once in a while but not as often as before. My daughter said she missed going to the mall and play but she also understand that the virus is still around.

Thanks for reading!

Keep inspiring. Keep smiling.