The next day we took a break from tours and day trips and checked out Manila. We started the day with the free breakfast in the lounge at our hotel which was really pretty good. They had a ton of options and eating there every morning I didn’t get bored with the options. Their bagels and lox were awesome.
After that Brian and I checked out the rooftop pool area. Brian was up super early every morning from jet lag, so he had been up there plenty but not in his suit and really checking it out. Although the view is beautiful and the pool area is very pleasant, the hot tub was disappointing as it wasn’t warm and didn’t have very big bubbles. We ended up heading back downstairs, getting ready for the day and enjoying the patio for a bit. I spent a little time blogging and Brian reading the news and such.
Eventually, we hit up Jerod to see if he wanted to head to downtown with us. Metropolitan Manila is made up of 16 cities and 1 municipality. This means the traffic is crazy and each area has it’s own look and feel. The skyline is made up of multiple high rise centers and some being much bigger than others. We took a Grab (the company that is very similar to Uber in Southeast Asia) to Intramuros.
Intramuros is the original Manila that is surrounded by the old walls that were built to protect it when it was settled by the Spaniards. It is the most recommended area to visit for tourists, and rich with historical sites to see. We were dropped off very close to the cathedral and I made the mistake of thinking it was the church we were supposed to see. It was actually the main cathedral of the area. The Cathedral of Manila has it’s own crazy history as it has gone through several incarnations. It has been destroyed by a typhoon, a fire, an earthquake, war and more. There have been at least eight interactions of the cathedral and clearly shows the dedication they have to their religion.
After that we made our way to Rizal Park and Fort Santiago. We wandered around the park first and enjoyed the walls and caves which led us to the golf course and a side park area with a museum dedicated to the last few days of their countries hero Jose Rizal. You can find your way to it by following the footsteps marked in the ground that they say are the last he took. Not knowing a lot about him, the museum wasn’t all that meaningful, but it was free and did get me to look him up later. From there we went to Fort Santiago itself, and wandered around. That part I enjoyed more. As we headed back to the gates to leave, we unfortunately got caught in a massive down pour. Luckily, Brian and I hid under a tree and didn’t really get too wet, but Jerod did. It passed pretty quickly, and the sun came out which meant it was very hot and insanely muggy.
We decided we were all starving at that point and Brian led us back into the core of the winding streets of Intramuros Manila to an area that looked like it had several restaurants. We noticed a restaurant tucked inside a building that we decided would work. It was called Barbara’s Heritage Restaurant and offered a great buffet with some people playing some music too. We ended up running into our previous tour guide there, Toto, and he gave us a recommendation of going to the church next to us and a hotel nearby with a rooftop lounge and great view. It turned out that was the old historical church that we were supposed to see. We didn’t go it, but I was content seeing it from the outside. We made our way to the hotel, but the lounge wasn’t open yet, so we decided to walk the walls for awhile and grab a car back.
Once back at the hotel, we decided to go up to the roof to relax in the chairs at the pools and enjoy views, food and beverages. We then rallied for our Thanksgiving dinner which we decided to skip the traditional turkey options there, and have Italian food instead. We made our way to the wine bar over in the food court of the mall and then had pizza and pasta for dinner. We then returned to the beautiful lobby of our hotel, and had a bit of fun with numerous Christmas photo opportunities on the way.