Wanderlust Diary

Intramuros is called the “Walled City” early on when the Philippines was under the Spanish rule. Only the aristocrats and government officials can live inside this small area. It’s one of the things that can bring you back to the 18th century as some of the landmark are still preserved and yet seeing cars along the small streets can seem quite ironic to reminisce with.

I love how I can still remember my grade school field trip here at the Fort Santiago. Fort Santiago was actually a prison hall which the famous Jose Rizal was detained before he was executed. You can see his golden last footsteps on the cement floor of entering the fort.

There are not much tourists around here that time I visited..so it feels cold around. Maybe this is comparable to Tower of London where some prisoners must have been tortured. Under a colony, I bet there are a lot of rebels around.

There are a lot of walking tours ( Carlos Cedran’s Walk this way is the more famous one, I tried his Imelda tour which seems so controversial and intriguing).

You can try to hire a kalesa (horse carriage) to tour around Intramuros (it would cost about 200 pesos, try to haggle if there’s no tour guide). There are not much choices here though..sadly. I do wish the city of Manila can revive it’s most historical place (more police for safety, more restaurants and cafes to visit) and maybe limit cars inside.