Exploring the Hispanic Place in Vigan City

The original plan of our second day  tour was supposedly going to Bangui Windmills in Ilocos Norte. But it takes 2-4 hours on the road from Ilocos Sur to Bangui, Ilocos Norte, according to the local. We don't have enough time so we cancelled the plan and proceed to the plan B. If you travel on a particular place you should always have a plan B just in case you can’t make it to your plan A and also to avoid waste of time on your trip. That’s what I’ve learned!

On the other hand, our plan B was to discover around Vigan City:

We visited Crisologo Museum -it is the original Vigan ancestral house and houses the memorabilia of the Crisologos. You can see antiques inside the mansion. The old dress, shoes and the car was preserved where Hon. Carmeling Crislogo was ambushed on May 1961 and her perfume collections and more.

We also went to the National Museum – Padre Burgos House; the Vigan houses the memorabilia of the martyr-priest Jose Burgos.

After that, we dropped by at Fil-Spanish Friendship Park and Buridek Museum, with entrance fee for 15php – adult and 10php for students. The park is abundant of trees which you can relax and feel the fresh air. There are also the Buridek Children’s Museum which added the attraction in the place and the swimming pool and an open amphitheater. The Buridek Children’s Museum is a venue where the visitors learn the culture and the history of Vigan.

And Angkol (Uncle) as we call for him, our driver, along this trip brought us to Sulvec Watchtower – is located in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur. It was built as lookout points for looming pirates. It is sturdy and magnificent structure built by the Spaniards.

Before we go back to Manila in the evening, we went back to Calle Crisologo to buy for a souvenir items like shirts, key chains, chichacorn and more.

How to get to Vigan City:

By land, from Manila to Vigan City is about eight hours ride along the picturesque Manila-Ilocos Highway. Air-conditioned bus like Partas Bus, Dominion Bus, Viron Transit and Aniceto Bus will take you to the Vigan City, it is route regularly.

Aniceto Bus fare is 420php for one way. That is so cheap, for me, among others.

By air, you can check on any airlines website going to Laoag City in Ilocos Norte and from Laoag City, it takes an hour and a half ride by bus or arranged vehicles to Vigan. The city can be reached via any transportation like Farinas Transportation, Maria De Leon Bus Lines and Florida Transit.

You can also ride a calesa for only 150.00php per hour, that’s if you want to experience a calesa ride around the area. And the best way to go around Vigan is on foot because it is exciting. The city center is small and compact.