taal church bell tower

when i was approaching the small chapel beside the Taal church, one of the caretakers noticed me searching for a photo subject, he then approached and asked me if i would like to go to the church tower. why would i resist?i rarely have the chance to get to a church bell tower and so it was a great opportunity for me and the group of travel bloggers to get a view of the town from the biggest structure in the area.a guard guided us upstairs to a locked room that leads to the church balcony. no one without the permission of the church administrator is allowed in this area. a wooden flooring, dusty cabinets, and old church statues are placed on the side. we entered into another door that leads to the tower's base area. small steps leading towards the church can be seen on one of the dark door entrance. the space was to small and the steps were slippery. more steps upward finally led us to the church belfry. filled with unused piece of wood and on the side, another set of steps that leads to the outer area. from this point, one can get a view of the heritage town of Taal. old ancestral houses surrounds the town plaza including the town hall. one can get a view of the bay on one side and a plain land area one the other side.i noticed that there were a number of bells in the vicinity. i've seen one on the rear side labeled Casaysay, which could be a bell from the other church in the town of Taal, which i'll be featuring soon. we spent some time on top while the guard patiently waited and enjoyed the nice view from the top. a view of the sunset could be great from this vantage but we need to get to our next as we only have the day to roam around the town of Taal.

taal church batangas

the country's replica of the St. Peter's basilica facade in Rome is the church of San Martin de Tours in Taal Batangas. one would not expect a church this size in a relatively small town of Taal. three hours bus ride from Manila leads to this sleepy plaza and a church considered to be one of the biggest in the country, if not the biggest. built first in 1575 but was destroyed after the eruption of Mt. Taal and was rebuilt several times until 1876.when one gets to see its interior, one won't find it impressive as it has old red tile flooring. plain ceiling from the entrance. but not when you reach the main altar's ceiling. it is grand!in the Philippines, no church seems to be too big as the number of church goers fill the place on Sundays. not sure though with this one as a town relatively small for this big church. the twelve large and high pillars of its facade somehow symbolizes that its new structure will withstand earthquake. as it was destroyed by a a killer quake in 1849. one can easily find a good vantage point as the church facade is picturesque in many angles. when one zooms in their lens to the pillar holders, one will notice its intricate layers. St. Martin de Tours church or simply Taal church can be accessed via Cavite passing through Tagaytay or through the South Luzon Expressway via the town of Lipa and Cuenca. in this trip we took the bus bound for Lemery Batangas and just tell the bus conductor to drop you at the Taal plaza. expect vendors to be selling these peanuts and bucayo. not bad for a pasalubong.eskapo rate:
church facade: 4.5
church interior: 3.5
church plaza: 3.0
church location: 4.0
historical background: 4.0

note: winners of the contest in the previous post will be announced at the end of the Taal series.

taal series - contest

in this series, it was the first time that travel bloggers and photographers erick, ironwulf, lagalog, lantaw, lawstude and dong ho went out together on a day trip to the beautiful town of Taal in Batangas.this month of December i'm giving out a series of contests as a way to thak the followers and readers of eskapo. to start the Taal series, you just have to arrange the three things from the list below as to which one i enjoyed the most in this series.

X. Eating Tawilis
Y. Climbing up the church tower
Z. Dropping by ancestral houses

as simple as that. one who gets to arrange it right, gets a surprise prize. contest runs from Dec 1 11:59pm until Dec 3 12:01am. first with what i like the most.

note: will be announced after the Taal series.

alegre guitar mactan cebu

when i was along with my Singaporean counterparts in Cebu, i gave them a small guitar souvenir and one thing that immediately came into their mind is that Filipinos are so inclined to music. i agreed.one thing that makes Cebu city even more marketable to the tourists is its decades old guitar industry. from a time when the Spanish influenced the Cebuanos to a musical instrument that evolved and progressed.one of the many guitar factory is the Alegre Guitars. located in an almost hidden area of Abuno in the island of Mactan. owned by Fernando Bebbot Alegre who's a good guitarist himself.they have a showroom open to all where one can even see how each of the guitars are made intricately. from different types of wood forming the country's most loved and widely used instrument.from generation to generation, the guitars that they are making had evolved as well from the mere standard guitars to making yukaleles, mandolas, banjos, and bass guitars. Alegre Guitars is located in Abuno, Lapu Lapu City, Mactan island. i recommend that you take a cab going there. estimated travel time from the Mactan airport to this place is just about 30minutes or less.