An Affordable Baguio Trip for Summer

WOWBatangas Tours in partnership with Lipa City House of Travel and Tours commenced its second out of the province trip last March 26-27, 2010. The tour was held in Baguio City, the Summer Capital of the Philippines and the City of Pines. A very affordable P 1,700 rate made this Baguio tour possible.

The tour began during the meet-up with the clients at the Lipa City House of Travel and Tours in Paninsingin. We also picked up clients from Laguna and Manila as well.

The first day of the tour was a side trip to Manaoag, Pangasinan. The site is famous for  the Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag. What draws visitors to this place is the four hundred year old ivory statue of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary which is majestically mounted on a beautiful retablo. Devotees, coming from all over the globe, have various reasons for visiting the place among of which are prayers for health restoration, good voyage, or better fate.

A breeze of frosty air greeted us on our way to the zig-zag road to Baguio. Upon reaching the city, we visited the Philippine Military Academy which for the past 100 years has been the training school of the Armed Forces of the Philippines .  Here, visitors are welcome to explore the grounds, view the cadets performing their drills, visit the PMA museum, and walk around its beautiful parks – on display are vintage tanks and other historical military weapons. After that, the group set foot to the Wright Park which features the famous Baguio Land mark  ”the Pool of Pines”.  Visitors may have photo ops with the various horses and ponies that are for hire in the park. It has also a stairway that leads to the famous the Mansion- the official summer residence of the President of the Philippines since the time of President Jose P. Laurel. It features an elaborate main gate which  is said to be a replica of that at Buckingham Palace in London, England.

Moving on, we went straight to Mines View Park – which boasts of a spectacular view of Benguet’s gold and copper mines and the Cordillera mountains.  Here visitors could do shopping in the souvenir stalls and silver works stores.  Any visit to Mines View Park would not be complete without a stop at the Good Shepherd Convent which became famous for their quality fruit jams, brittle and other goodies. The place highlights a nice view of the mountains of the Cordillera range -an ideal backdrop for photos.  For the last attraction, we went to the Baguio Botanical Garden. Visitors are welcomed by a bas relief sculpture made of cement and stone showing the different rituals of the Cordillera tribes.  Our group had a chance to have their photos taken with Igorots who were very willing to pose for a small fee.

After the tiring travel from Batangas to Baguio, finally we have checked- in to Paladin Hotel. Here we stayed overnight and the rest of the time was spent for the tourists’own leisure.

For the second day, our first stop was at the Bell Church -a must see attraction leading to the strawberry Farm in La Trinidad Benguet. It is a Chinese temple that features intricately designed pagodas, parks, and statuaries. It also houses certain artifacts about Buddhism and the history of China. After the Bell Church tour, we went now to the Strawberry Farm - here one can get to pick fresh strawberries — right alongside the Ibaloi farmers — to bring home or consume while on vacation. A Baguio Tour could not be completed if you do not visit , the Mother of All Parks – Burnham Park.  The site was named after Daniel Hudson Burnham, one of Chicago’s best architects and urban planners. His greatest contributions to the country were Roxas Boulevard (formerly Dewey), and the design of  Baguio itself. A Batangueno by the name of Engr. Jose Petronio Katigbak, helped Burnham in laying out the city. The park is also considered to be the heart of Baguio City since it is surrounded and is very near to most of the commercial/ business establishments in the area. Attractions near Burnham Park  include: the majestic Our Lady of the Atonement Cathedral – the center of religious activities in Benguet Province  and SM City Baguio which has a nice view deck.

Credits: http://www.gobaguio.com/index.html

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