My boyfriend and I had always wanted to see Ilocos. We were intrigued by its beauty and charm so we decided to go on an Ilocandia tour. This was last year, by the way. Hehehe… 😛
Day 1: Ilocos Sur Tour
Breakfast. 🙂
I love Vigan longganisa way before we went to Ilocos and I would not pass up the oppurtunity to eat some in Vigan, of course! 🙂
breakfast at Grandpa's Inn, Vigan
After having breakfast, our next stop was Baluarte, a mini zoo owned by Chavit Singson.
mini zoo in Ilocos
We also went to Bantay Church. According to our tour guide, its belfry is known as the Sinking Bell Tower in Ilocos. I don’t know if that’s true because I read that St. William’s Cathedral’s belfry is the one known as the sinking bell tower. We saw St. William’s Cathedral’s bell tower on our way to our hotel and man, it’s massive! No wonder it’s sinking on its sandy foundations. Too bad… 😦
Bantay Church and its belfry (Sinking bell tower in Vigan)
Marcos Museum
After our visit to Marcos museum and mausoleum (no cameras were allowed so I was not able to take pictures of our former president’s body), we went to the famous Paoay Church.
Paoay Church
Next was Currimao Coral Reef Formation. They look like boulders, but if you look closely, they’re dead corals. Amazing!
Oh yeah, I slipped here when I tried to go to the water. My old digicam got wet, too! Sayang, nasira! 😦
Currimao Coral Reef Formation (slippery!!! Hahaha!)
We also checked out La Paz Sand Dunes. They told me this was where the movie Panday was shot. Hehehe…
La Paz Sand Dunes
Our last stop before going to our hotel was Malacañang of the North. This was the Marcoses’ rest house in Ilocos. It is also known as Malacañang Ti Amianan.
Malacañang of the North
Paoay Lake (at the back of Malacañang)
Check-in time!
Java Hotel (owned by the Fariñases)
Take a peek of our room:
bed
our toilet and bathroom
We were dead tired and sleepy so we just had dinner at Java Hotel’s bar.
Java Hotel's resto bar
However, even if we’re exhausted, we still went swimming. 🙂
night swimming
Day 2: Ilocos Norte Tour
After breakfast, our 1st trip was to Cape Bojeador.
Cape Bojeador
We also went to Bangui Windmills! Wind energy!!! 🙂
Bangui Windmills
We had photo op on Patapat Bridge.
Try turning on your car radio while on Patapat Bridge and you could get the radio frequency of Taiwan’s radio stations! Hehehe…
Patapat Bridge
Another photo op at Agua Grande. I think it’s also known as Aqua Paradiso.
Agua Grande / Aqua Paradiso
If you’re in Ilocos and you wanna hit the beach, where will you go? PAGUDPUD!!! 🙂
Blue Lagoon Resort, Pagudpud
the blue waters of Pagudpud
Day 3: Vigan and back home
On our last day, we went to Vigan’s Heritage Village. It sorta brought me to the old Philippines.
Heritage Village, Vigan
My boyfriend is kind of a shy person, but he was sssooo fascinated with Heritage Village that he asked one home owner if we could go up her place and take some shots from her window. The nice lady agreed. (We did not know that there was even a shooting by TV 5 in her house so I guess that’s why she also let us in.)
view from the second floor
Heritage Village's pavement tiles
The trip was truly memorable. Not only did we get to visit the beautiful Ilocos, we also got to taste their native delicacies like the bagnet, empanada, and longganisa. (We even had dinner at Laoag’s local “food court”, Tapayan.) Moreover, we gained a few aquaintances who are now our friends on Multiply. 🙂
Twitterpated Me 