Manila (Part 2)... Intramuros

While in Manila, we went to Intramuros. What is Intramuros? Ha... let's check the history... 

Intramuros (Latin: within the walls) is the historic centre and oldest district of Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.Also known as the Ciudad Murada (Walled City) because of its most famous feature: a nearly three-mile-long circuit of massive stone walls and fortifications that almost completely surrounds the entire district.    Taken from www.wikitravel.org

I think enough with the history.. Pada mulanya i thought Intramuros ni satu kawasan kecik aja, rupanya mak datuk, memang cukup besar..nasib baik naik kereta kuda...

Kereta kuda kami...

Getting into our carriage

We hired the calisa (the horse with the carriage) at the entrance of Fort Santiago. The calisa came with the driver and a guide. That was my 1st experience on a calisa, actually. Not so thrilling as my horse ride at Taal. Oh yes, the entrance fee to the Intramuros is 75 peso (rm5.70) and we paid 150 peso per pax for the calisa.  Our first stop was Fort Santiago, one of the oldest fortifications in Manila. The former stone fort was damaged during the earthquake but then it was repaired and strengthened. So, we captured some photos hore before we went in.

Fort Santiago

Inside the fort, our 1st stop was the Rizal Shrine.  It is a modern museum and houses the stuff and belongings of Jose Rizal.They even had the real cell of Jose Rizal inside the shrine. He was imprisoned for 59 days before he was shot to death.

On our way to the shrine

Tmn Peringatan kot...

The Rizal Shrine Fort Santiago @ Museum

Inside the shrine

These were the foot steps of Jose Rizal, from the shrine to Rizal Park (the place where he was shot).  Jaoh jugak
Rizal Park nak ke Shrine ni.. Kalau kita zaman skrg ni, kena naik kereta...pengsan kalau menapak...

After the shrine, was just walked at the park until we ended up the bank of Pasai River. Tangkap-tangkap gambar la kat tepi sungai tu overlooking the old Manila. Lepas penat2 ambik gambar, we hopped on the calisa and sightseeing around Intramuros, While sightseeing, pemandu pelancong tu dok citer2 la kisah bangunan-bangunan tu... I can recall part of what he said but most of it, it digested inside me...He..he... too much history made me dizzy...

I'm not so sure of what this is but it looks like some kind of  pre-war structures, like a tunnel or something..
Itula, masa guide tu cakap, x mau dngr...leka tangkap gambar

Pasig River reminds me of our very own Klang River...he..he... There used to be  a river cruise circulating
the river but it was discontinued. 

Dekat Manila pon ada Great Wall...

Anyway, let me just show u some of the buildings i managed to capture while we were inside the calisa.

The ever famous San Agustin Church and convent..Masa kami lalu pon ada ramai pasangan pengantin baru
sedang menlangsongkan perkahwinan... There are a lot of churches inside here but this one is the busiest one,
yg lain tu mcm lengang aja...

Top: Rumah tradisional melayu, bottom: copper tooling of the presidents of Phillipines 

The Bayleaf: The only hotel inside Intramuros

 As usual, towards the end of the journey, mestilah ada ....jeng...jeng...jeng... souvenir shop.... tp kami x beli as we already planned to shop at kultura tonight.

*There are many other places to visit inside Intramuros (museums, fort, churches, etc) but we didn't stop as we did not have enough time to stop at all the places.

To be cont...