The Walled City

October 1, 2006. As if the Corregidor tour was not enough, Fil and I decided to continue with our historical immersion trip by checking out Intramuros, the old capital of Manila. Built in 1571, it remains a monumental, if ruined, relic of the Spanish period in Philippine history. It is a city within a city, separated from the rest of Manila by its crumbling walls. This ancient capital had well-planned streets, plazas, the Governor's Palace and churches but many of its buildings (just like in Corregidor) were reduced to shambles in World War II.
We first went to Fort Santiago, a 16th century military defense structure, which stands witness to the valor and heroism of the Filipino through the centuries. It used to be the seat of the colonial powers of both Spain and the U.S. and was also a dreaded prison under the Spanish regime and the scene of countless military police atrocities during the Japanese occupation. Here, too, Dr. Jose Rizal spent his last hours before his execution on Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park). In fact, you can re-trace the steps of the National Hero by stepping on the metal footprints that ran from Fort Santiago to Rizal Park.
Intramuros also houses the Manila Cathedral and St. Augustine Church. We were lucky to witness a wedding at the Cathedral and took some pictures of the beautiful bride and her proud groom. I guess they didn't mind strangers taking their pictures...they are so in love to even care!

Outside the cathedral we hailed a "kutsero" (horse rig driver) in bright yellow-green checkered uniform who offered us a 30-minute kalesa ride around Intramuros for P350. It was already 1130am on a Sunday so the whole place was almost vacated (no students and employees, no local residents who dared burn under the sun). It was just us and mamang kutsero/tour guide who kept on reciting historical facts and pointing to spots where some institutions used to stand including churches which have now been turned into basketball courts or just empty spaces. I couldn't believe the original site of Ateneo de Manila was in Intramuros! Now i know why it was named Ateneo de Manila and not Ateneo de Quezon City where it is now located (i'm from UP so don't expect me to know *bleh!*:P...ooops, how come Fil didn't tell me that? he's an Atenean!)

So anyway, when we passed by the four universities (PLM, Mapua, Lyceum and Letran), i got disoriented: it was so quiet, the only thing we could hear was the rhythmic 2-beat sound of the horse galloping down the historic street. For a moment I imagined myself in "Maria Clara" attire...

We rounded the walled city in 30 minutes and we requested mamang kutsero to bring us straight to Illustrado restaurant where Fil devoured a big plate of delicious paella enough to feed four people and I satisfied myself with my all-time favorite chicken and pork adobo hehehehe...you bet i have no imagination or sense of history when it comes to food! :-)


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