An awesome journey tells of good memories!
In many of our travels to places so far away from home, even on our lonesome, we can enjoy life when we enjoy each journey. Memories are formed in many of our encounters with locals, structures and historic places which remind us of our own humanity and explore places so remote, only our imagination can continue to live through it. Read more
Puerta del Parian in Intramuros
There were episodes of historic significance in the Walled City of Manila and one of those happened in the Puerta del Parian. Significant as it was historically, until today, these area of the Walled City of Manila in Intramuros beacons people from all walks of life, most students who passes its gates to where many universities inside the Intramuros are located. I once passed by this manicured garden on the wall as I pursued my studies at the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU). I have both encountered its grand beauty, day and night, under the sun or under the rain.
Puerta del Parian played a crucial role in Philippine’s history, from the time of the Spaniards to the swift British occupation of Manila in 1762-1764. However, prior to that, many enterprising Chinese, most of them, rice traders trade goods in this market. It is because trading at those times, though simply conducted on a know-you basis and to some extent, barter-trade by nature relies heavily on the Pasig river. Pasig River passes very near this gate at Puerta del Parian making it convenient for carrying loads of rice and selling it to merchants in other parts of Manila. Read more
The famous Dome of the Manila Cathedral
In visiting the old Manila in Intramuros, the most prominent and majestic Church fronting that of Fort Santiago is the illustrious and grand Roman Catholic Cathedral of Manila. It is the epicentre of the faith and the faithful in Roman Catholicism in the Philippines and rightly so, until today, it the center of grand and lavish weddings, epic funerals and promising baptism, also, political upheavals and the plotting of a new political era during the time of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Gone were those days now, though what remains is the sole witness of them all, the Manila Cathedral.
Today, the significant highlight of the cathedral apart from religion is the role of the center of the cross atop the naranja cupola or half-orange dome is where the reference point of the astronomical longitudes of the entire archipelago, the Philippines. This is the only structure in all of the Philippines that serves its unique place in astronomy and science. The dome was first introduced in the Cathedral in 1750 by Fray Juan de Uguccioni. Read more
