 |
| Houses adorned for Pahiyas Festival in Lucban |
Leaving
Manila by six in the morning, we had intended to spend our first night in Naga
City that would have taken eight hours to reach by road travel had we commuted
by public bus at the terminus in Cubao or Pasay City. Our interest had been drawn to other places
during the preparations for the trip and contemplated on visiting the towns of
Lucban and Tayabas. So driving the
family SUV allowed us freedom and complete control over our route, interrupted at
will by liberal breaks along the way.
 |
| Tayabas Church Belfry |
The highway gets serpentine at times that seemed treacherous, I imagine, when it
rains but the kids love the scene nevertheless. Some stretches of bad roads and intermittent
surface upgrades mar the route, specially the towns of Ragay and Sipocot in
Camarines Sur. We finally reached our
destination past six in the evening, just in time for the dinner rendezvous
with my high school classmate Dr. Emelito Alegre and his wife Dra. Bebette, who
both migrated to this city after medical school. Much later, we were afforded a look-see of the
famous churches of Naga City that I was telling Emil having heard so much about:
Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia, San Francisco Church and the Metropolitan
Cathedral. It was a quick tour on my
imploring because the punishment my body had to endure from the full-course driving
made me crave to retire early at Sampaguita Tourist Inn where we got billeted
at 850 pesos for a double room. Clean,
newly renovated and nestled in isolation along the banks of the river in the
city proper, its pleasant location afforded a relatively quiet neighbourhood, apart
from the bustle and flurry of urban activity.
 |
| Naga Cathedral |
 |
| Sampaguita Inn Lobby |
next page
My other blogs:
Jou San! Sham Shui Po
Traditional Hong Kong Herbal Tea House
Where Is Josephine Bracken?
No comments:
Post a Comment