Palazzo Pensionne
49 General Sepulveda Street, 6000 Cebu City, Philippines
On the eve of the second day, we traveled back to Cebu City. We checked in at a hotel near South Cebu Terminal, so it would be accessible for our planned city tour and airport too.
Palazzo Pensionne offers accommodations with free breakfast, wifi and 24-hour front desk. It’s a 10-minute drive from Ayala Center and Magellan’s Cross. The place is very clean, quiet and well-furnished. It provides the basic amenities of a hotel service at a very reasonable price.
Our stay at the hotel was very convenient, practical yet comfortable. The 24-hour hotel reception was a great help in accommodating our needs any time of the day. A phone is provided at the room to reach them any moment.
Our daily breakfasts eased us from worrying what to eat in the morning for two days. The breakfast treats were good and presentable. Their guest relations are highly commendable too. It would be better though if they provided transportation services in alignment with their 24/7 operations to assist guests coming from far -flung areas.
Day 3 started with a late lunch at Lighthouse Restaurant along Mango Ave. Lighthouse features incredible Filipino dishes cooked the Cebuano way.
On my next post I will share my food trip experience in Cebu.
City tours are normally a part of an out-of-town itinerary. It consists of discovering a bit of the place’s background, history and culture. However, the packages tend to be expensive so we decided to design our own itinerary. As first-time visitors, we often took the cab to avoid getting lost. As much as we wanted to visit several places in a day, we were limited by time constraints and weather conditions. Nevertheless, we still had a great time exploring a few of the historical landmarks in Cebu.
Tops Lookout
Busay Hills and Nivel Hills Lahug, Cebu City
After the late lunch, we hailed a cab going to Tops Look Out and eventually hired the driver for our city tour at the rate of 1000 pesos. I read that this rate is already reasonable since most drivers will charge you 1000 alone for getting to Tops, excluding side trips or city tours. The weather was slowly getting bad at that time so commuting did not become an option. We also heard that getting a cab was the most convenient way of getting to Tops since it is a steep climb to Mt.Busay.
The high altitude, zig-zag ride was rather cold and thrilling. It was one of those rides similar to getting to Baguio.
The entrance fee is Php 100. It gives the panoramic, breathtaking view of the whole Cebu City, and parts of Bohol (according to locals) as it is situated 2,500 meters above sea level.
There are small stalls offering food and refreshments, but the prices are way too high.
You can stay here for an hour or so, but there’s really nothing much to do except for a brief ocular of the city and pictorials, of course.
I am not afraid of heights so sitting on the edge of this rock fortress didn’t scare me away.
The view of the city and the trees was beautiful.
It was chilly and windy at the late afternoon, and light drizzles signaled us to go back to the city.
We were supposed to visit the Taoist Temple after, but it was closed already at that time. It came a surprise when traffic seemed not to be an unusual sight in Cebu city.
Magellan’s Cross
Magellan’s Cross is a significant landmark in Philippine History. It’s a cross planted by Portuguese and Spanish explorers as ordered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. It’s interesting to note that the original cross is encased in the wooden cross for preservation.
While it is a famous symbol in historical books or Sibika subject in elementary, it only looks like a small shrine that stands in one of the busy streets in Cebu city. I believe there are local jeepneys that will take you to this destination wherever you are in the city if you’re not going to take the cab.
Outside the shrine is the City Hall.
Aside from visiting sights, we also took the chance to explore a bit of Cebu’s cuisine and pasalubong. That story I will reserve for my next blog post about Cebu.
Diamond in the Rough 