The area of Manila called Intramuros is
a walled city containing churches, homes, government buildings and a
fort. The walls were built by the Spanish in the 1500s and the city
has withstood wars, typhoons and earthquakes and was eventually
shelled to death by the Americans when they kicked the Japanese out
of the Philippines in 1945. The place turned into slums until the
1970s when the government decided to regenerate it and I am so glad
they did because it is really lovely. Inside, things are much more
mellow than the rest of the city. There is less traffic and a lot of
green areas. The first things we saw were Manila cathedral and there
was even a wedding going on. I enjoyed the the Fort Santiago as
basically the plaza had been turned into a lovely park with fountains
and jasmine trees. Locals picnicked under the trees and kids climbed
on the original old wall. The artillery and other buildings had been
turned into various museums. One of them was dedicated to local hero,
poet and artist Rizal.
We were able to visit a furnished 19th
century Spanish house and the courtyards around it. We had lunch in a
café in one of the courtyards and then visited St Augustine's
church.
I really enjoyed visiting Intramuros. I
couldn't help but remember other places we had visited where the
Spanish or Portuguese had been before: Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil....
I was also shocked at the lack of
hassle we had. We have a range of strategies for dealing with
beggars, touts and general riff-raff, but we barely needed to apply
them. As we walked along the street we heard “halo halo”, but
remembered that halo is the name of a dessert, not the call of people
trying to get out attention.
The biggest hassle was trying to cross
the roads. In order to cross the roads, we usually tagged along with
groups of locals who would just walk out in front of oncoming
traffic. Sometimes it's best just not to look and just hope that
people stop. We cut out a load of roads by cutting through Rizal
Park which was great. It was a Saturday afternoon and people were
hanging out enjoying themselves. Loud music blasted out from the
loudspeakers. Security guard and several people out strolling sang
along to “I will survive” and we joined in. Filipinos are a jolly
lot. It always seems like they are having a laugh. We sat on a bench
next to the lake for a while and listened to more 1970s love songs.
Pretty surreal.
I have added more pictures to the
albums on this blog – just look on the right hand side bar.
