Intramuros Revisited, Stepping on the Footprints Left Over Earlier

In my earlier visit to Intramuros, I did not manage to enter San Agustin Church due to private event, and I vowed to visit this place again for sure. This time I have made it!

For this second visit to Intramuros, I just took a cab directly to the Rizal Park, instead of using the LRT to save the hassle of changing the train at EDSA station. Taking a cab should not cost more than 120 Pesos if the cab driver is honest.

First stop, the Department of Tourism. 

Being a tourist in the Philippines, we should always thanks to this government agency whose mission is to encourage, promote and develop tourism to generate foreign currency and employment. Without this agency, how are we able to know so much about the 7,107 beautiful islands of the Philippines?

Next, I walked around the Rizal Park. This park marked a few important historical events, which was named after the national hero, José Rizal, who was executed in 1896, which led to Philippines Revolution against Kingdom of Spain. The park was renamed to Rizal Park to honor the fallen of the national hero, with a monument of him situated right in the middle of the park.

The Philippines Independence from the United States was held here in the Rizal Park on July 4, 1946 as well as several political rallies happened here in the 1980s. Plenty of the recent events happened here as well which made to international news, whether happy or sad events, such as the hostage crisis of Hong Kong citizens held by gunman in 2010, and also Papal visit of Pope Francis earlier this year on January 18, 2015.

The Gallery of Heroes 

The modern Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage

After walking around Rizal Park, I took a jeepney into the Intramuros. Jeepney is the most popular public transport in the Philippines, which were originally made from U.S Military jeeps left over after the World War II. Jeepney has then become the part of the culture of the Philippines.

Nowadays jeepneys were manufactured by different regional manufacturers and they come with different variants of design. Still, we can easily recognize the jeepneys from their similar outlook, the crowded passengers and the flamboyant and noisy characteristic.

So here comes my main mission here for the second visit to Intramuros, the San Agustin Church.

The entrance fee was 100 Pesos as per 2011 for general admission. It may sound like big amount to you as a backpacker but I can assure you that the church definitely worth the 100 Pesos that you paid for!

The beautiful interior of the San Agustin Church

The main altar of the San Agustin Church

The grand pipe organ

The graves of prominent people such as governors, at the church floor.

Jesus statue in the museum

So do you agree with me on the beauty of the interior of San Agustin Church? It was totally a jaw-dropping experience for me seeing the interior. How could the oldest church in the Philippines, still looks so beautiful after so many years? There is no other church that is comparable with this, so far.

Even when you are a tourist, do you ever wanted to confess to the God in the foreign land? In San Agustin Church, you may converse to the God in 3 different languages - Tagalog, English or Spanish.

Before leaving Intramuros, I walked pass the Manila Cathedral again. Looking from far, Manila Cathedral is beautiful, but the San Agustin Church is totally unbeatable in terms of architectural beauty.

Hereby I concluded both visits to Intramuros were fruitful, visiting the major landmarks definitely leaves unforgettable memories for this walled compound in Metro Manila.

Intramuros, the Evidence of the Spanish Colonization

After 4 months being in Thailand, I was assigned to a project in Philippines. Over the 2 months assignment here, I traveled to multiple beautiful places indulging delicious local food, which made my stay remarkable.

As an avid traveler, first travel destination in Manila would be the most talked Intramuros! Intramuros is a Spanish word for "within the walls", and this is the oldest district and historic core of Manila. The place is only about 10 km away from my hotel in Makati, but many people claimed that taxis were overcharging for such a distance. With the adventurous heart, we headed to Intramuros via public transport, the LRT/MRT. 

First we took jeepney from our hotel towards the shopping mall district of Makati, Greenbelt (7 Pesos) and walked towards the Ayala LRT station (MRT-3 line). The train would terminate at EDSA Station which we would need to hop on the another line, towards United Nations Ave station (LRT-1 line). Usually people would suggest to go to Central station which is nearer to Intramuros, but we had decided to come down at United Nation Ave station which would lead us to Rizal Park area before heading to Intramuros.

From the station, it was just some walking distance away before we reached the first landmark in Rizal Park.

The Lapu-Lapu Monument, or Statue of Sentinel of Freedom, was a gift from people of Korea, as the appreciation for freedom-loving Filipino who helped in the Korean war in the early 1950s. Lapu-Lapu was a native Visayan in Mactan, Cebu who was the first native archipelago to fight against Spanish colonization. He was regarded the first national hero of the Philippines.

After the Lapu-Lapu Monument, we proceeded to Intramuros. As the name suggested, we had to go through a wall before we were officially in the walled area. 

Intramuros was built in 1571 during the Spanish colonization to protect the city from foreign invasions. The city was built with the basic amenities for the Spanish, which included the San Agustin Church. Built in the same year with Intramuros, this was a Roman Catholic church under the auspices of The Orders of St. Augustine.

This is the oldest stone church in Philippines, and now the church had been recognized as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993, alongside with 3 other churches. Too bad, luck was not with us that day which the church was closed due to private event.

You may choose to go around Intramuros by foot, or to go with the calesa, the horse-drawn carriages, which you can see around the Intramuros.

The calesa was first used in Manila in the 18th century, and please remember to negotiate for the price before you get up the calesa to avoid being ripped off. You can also try the tram if you see them moving around.

Next we reached one of the most important churches in Manila, the Manila Cathedral. The architecture was so magnificent where you could see it from far. 

This Roman Catholic basilica was built in 1571 as church of Manila, and raised to cathedral 8 years later, and formally becoming one in 1581. The cathedral was damaged and destroyed multiple times to multiple earthquakes and World War II, and the present cathedral was constructed between 1954 to 1958. 

For a traveler like me who had never witnessed the historical churches around the world, the interior of the Manila Cathedral gave me the first impression as if I was in Europe visiting the beautiful churches.

The stained glass windows gave the pictorial history of Christianity, and there were a total of 134 stained glass windows in the Manila Cathedral.

There were also the artistic bronze carvings on the cathedral's main portal, representing its important historical episodes and giving the homage to Mary, the Mother of God.

The last stop of the day was at Fort Santiago, the citadel built by the first conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi to protect the Intramuros. The fort was just hundreds steps away from the Manila Cathedral.

The gate of Fort Santiago was badly damaged during the World War II, and what we see today was the reconstruction work after the war.

The fort is now a major landmark, and this is also one of the major tourist attraction in Manila. This was mainly due to José Rizal, the national hero of Philippines, was imprisoned here prior his execution on 30th December 1896. Sitting within the compound of Fort Santiago was the Rizal Shrine museum, which displays the memorabilia of the hero in his imprisonment days.

The friendly security guards here were dressed in 19th century uniform of the Spanish guards.

One of the main features of the fort was the footsteps of Rizal, embedded onto the ground in bronze, representing his final footsteps from the cell towards the actual execution site.

Before we left, photograph with the statue of José Rizal to conclude our day trip to Intramuros.

It would be a regret for us for not visiting San Agustin Church, but this was indeed a good trip for my first time in Philippines! Intramuros would be revisited!