Philippines – Manila

Manila, Philippines

The central area of Manila has old Spanish remnants – the Fort, Cathedral and 16th residential palaces  – so atmospheric. The old town had a definite Spanish 17th Century architectural feeling to it, so take a map and just wander this area. Do not miss the art Nouveau Hotel near the main Rizal Park for coffee and cake and a trip into the 1930s past – read more for details on this. The central Rizal Park contains all the museums you will need here and all within a few mins walk of each other – convenient or what ! ?

Despite this fab collection of historic buildings, I am going to say something that I rarely do on my blog – Manila was not one of my favourite places to visit. By no means would I say do not go there but I feel you may need to temper your expectations. Yes, it has numerous attractions and is an important city but the quality and variety was much more limited than most other cities of the same size. I also found that the poverty was very visible, homeless people sleeping in parks and many beggars and in some non-central areas I did not feel entirely safe. I found out later that it has one of the highest crime rates in the world and often fuelled by the drug trade ….. so ….

Manila and my S E Asia tour

I visited Manila in the Philippines during my month-long tour of South East Asia.

On this trip I also spent time in Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. It was an amazing time of differing cultures, sights, sounds and smells and remains my most magical long-stay venture so far.

Read how you can combine several of these countries into a easy tour and get the most of the region while there.

Click below for my trip and reviews of these places.

Singapore

Indonesia: Bali

Indonesia; Jakarta

Brunei: Bandar Seri Begawan

Vietnam: Ho Chi Min City

Vietnam: My To and Ben Tri

Vietnam: HCMC to PPen by bus

Cambodia: Phnom Pen

Cambodia: Phnom Penh to Siem Reap by Bus

Cambodia: Siem Reap

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia: KL to S’pore by train.

What’s in Manila?

Manila is easy to get around to see most of the tourist sites, if you have the energy for walking and have the time.

Its main Museums, Galleries and Monuments are either in the Rizal Park or in the next door old town Intramuros zone.

Most guides I pre -read about Manila remarked on how little there was to see here of great interest and it can be done in a day. I would not disagree but would say that 2 days are needed to see them all unless you are quite selective.

I spent 2 days and missed out a couple of the Museums, largely due to the fact the Museum of Anthropology, National Library or Natural History Museum are not big on my list of stuff to see.  They have huge Museums dedicated to just these close to each other.

However the old Fort Santiago and the nearby Spanish 17th century colonial architecture of Cathedrals and Palaces in the Intramuros area did float my boat. Rizal Park – enormous – was also a definite place to wander but with so much in it, you can easily spend a day there too.

Where to stay in Manila.

Tricky this one, as options are quite varied depending on what you want to see and tastes in sightseeing.

If you are an history and architecture buff like me, then chose a hotel in the central area near Park Rizal, in Intramuros (the enclosed fortified city walled area of Old Town), or San Nicolas just across the river north of central.

This means you can probably walk to all the locations you will want to see, if you have stamina and love seeing stuff on the go. However the prices will be higher here for the convenience, but the eateries more frequent and no travel costs involved.

Choose a more outlying area for cheaper prices or if you are heading out to see volcanos/National Reserves etc to avoid the traffic of getting out of the centre.

Safety is a concern for Manila. It has high crime and often petty so the usual precautions are even more necessary here. I did feel uncomfortable in several less central areas and poverty/ deprivation was obvious and not hidden. I walked decidedly quickly with determination, and checked I knew where I was going without referring to maps, to look confident.

Manila traffic jams

Do not underestimate the horrendous traffic situation in Manila. Major highways are gridlocked at rush hours which are each 4 hours long and clogged at the best of times. Taxis just get caught up in the general melee, so chose a hotel near to a Metro/train line in a safe area.

Just as an indication, Manila gained the award in 2015 for “the worst traffic in S E Asia” – I’d say that hasn’t changed since – enough said.

Look at my pics below and you can see how the train/Metro can whiz through traffic blocks so is your best bet for travel. Beware, as usual, of pickpockets and be generally alert etc as these train carriages can get really crowded. Don’t move into the centre of the carriage if you are only going a few stops as the crush of people will make it almost impossible to get out in time. Click here for a handy website on Manila trains and Metro services

Where I stayed in Manila,

Having said that the central area is best, I actually stayed out of the centre, for several very good reasons.

I found a great hotel, stylish, with many great reviews at a low price for what was a 3/4 star hotel. I would recommend it, except I now see that it has closed down to be redeveloped into something else. As it was a low rise nice hotel and high-rises were going up around it I assume its a lucrative deal for a tower block.

On arrival at the hotel I was concerned to see armed guards at the entrance forecourt – I don’t often see guards, let alone guns in the UK, but quickly realised this was a good safety point and noticed that armed security was everywhere here at hotels, Malls, govt buildings, big public spaces, museums etc

There are even armed guards at store entrances and they will frisk you and scan your bag on entry – scary but that is the safety concerns over here. It is due to separatist armed groups and drug cartels rather than international terrorism though.

Use the Metro and train transport

However the same rules apply, in that if you are out of town, find an hotel next to the Metro/EDSA train lines. These are fast and frequent and relatively safe to travel on. You will need a fast route into the city as taxis will be expensive and open to negotiation and believe me they will try to hike the price if you are a tourist – nothing new there.

Also traffic is some of the worst in the world here and being on a train whizzing over the clogged streets below brings a certain relief.

I took the EDSA train into town each day, bought the ticket at the machine and it was incredibly cheap. The hotel was half the price of a similar one in the centre and for about 50p the ticket price each way truly compensated for it.

Arrange for your hotel to pick you up at the crowded airport, as bartering with taxis is a nightmare, and they will also probably not know your hotel unless it is a well known/high end one. On arrival late at night, my car was waiting for me, was perfectly safe and cost me a very cheap £7 for what was a 25 min drive direct to my hotel door.

You will see many of the Jeepneys in manila. basically converted long-axle jeeps brightly and creatively painted. They are used by locals to get about town on short journeys. They are unregulated, have no numbers and stop when hailed. Avoid them unless you have a friend who is a local or have a death wish! No seat belts, chaotic driving often open sides is the norm.

What to see and do In Manila.

The first place to see is everything within the old fortified walled city area. Called” Intramuros” (“within the walls”), it is home to the old town Spanish colonial area of the city and has most of the ancient buildings of interest.

It is walkable, the streets are narrowish but not completely pedestrianised, with narrow pavements, so be careful of passing traffic.

Start at one end depending where you are coming from and head to the other, but I suggest starting at Rizal park, so you are going in one continuous route forward.

Rizal Park

This park is enormous and is one long rectangle of greenery, fountains, gardens, Museums, monuments and statues. You name it, this park has it. It is quite an achievement to have this number of national buildings and commemorative edifices in one location.

Locals are here in abundance, be it walking through, kids playing on the grasses, street sellers trying to get you to buy tacky gifts and families enjoying the space.

However, the downside is that there is a plethora of beggars, people in makeshift protective mini tents , homeless people just using the space as they have no-where else to go and sometimes a few rough looking gangs of kids wandering.

There is no visible police or security presence and thus it did leave me feeling cautious about standing out as a tourist.

Yep, I got approached many times which took the edge of sightseeing and revealing my camera for photo shots seemed to draw attention from unwanted groups but I kept to the main area and used main entrances. Pity. I never usually feel unsafe wherever I go but this did prick my conscious.

Poverty and destitution was evident in the mothers with babies sitting on the floor and many bedraggled people looking around to beg. It is life here and I got to see it for real and it unnerved me somewhat. Tell me what you find as maybe I just hit it on a bad day!

Statue of the Sentinel of Freedom

This is a 30 foot statue on top of a 10 feet pedestal and along with the Dr Jose Rizal statue, dominates the Rizal Park. It is of  Lapu-Lapu, a Muslim local freedom fighter. He succeeded in killing the famous Portuguese explorer and coloniser Magellan in 1521, sent by the Spanish king. He is depicted holding a traditional kampilan sword.

After the historic battle, the Spanish empire took 35 years before they would set foot again on what is now the Philippines.

Dr. José Rizal National Monument

The park holds one of the most visited statues in Manila. That of the burial site of patriot and national hero of the Philippines, Jose Rizal 1861-96. He was a Philippino nationalist who advocated reforms during the Spanish colonial period.

He is universally known as a genius, as he was a multi-linguist, artist, poet, novelist, philosopher, and studied Medicine, Law and Land Surveying. He travelled fairly extensively abroad and was instrumental in bringing about the resistance to the occupying Spanish, although he never physically fought them.

He was executed in 1896 by the Spanish Army and administration for rebellion and just nearby is the marked place of his execution.

National Buildings and Gardens, Rizal park

The park holds many National buildings here. Three massive classically styled buildings- The National Museum of Anthropology, The National Museum of Natural History and the nearby the National Museum of the Philippines. There are also in its grounds the more modern buildings of The National Planetarium and The National Library of the Philippines.

Great to see but of limited attraction for me.

Further along is a rather unkept Relief Map of the Philippine Islands. It is a blue/green plastic moulded map of the Philippines set in a huge pond surrounded by water that represents the sea. It looks worn and a bit tacky and somewhat difficult to see unless you go onto the raised rampart that is suspended over the central area. Interesting but quite plain.

There is a tranquil Chinese Garden here with traditional tiled and peeked roofed buildings. There is also a Confucius statue, fenced bridges and a small lake. A little fake for me having seen better examples but certainly different to everything else in the park.

Similarly the Japanese Garden was just the same. I wouldn’t encourage others to go in for the experience, as it was just a mock up really.

However, the great thing about this park is that you have all of these institutions in one area – thus don’t need to traipse across the city for them individually. I had seen enough Museums already and reviews said they were mediocre in importance and content, so I skipped them.

Intramuros (within the walls)

Walk out of the park via either of the entrances beside the Japanese Garden and you cross the wide avenue in front and head down the entrance road to the walls of Intramuros. The thick green vegetation on either side give away the route and these parts have been turned into small gardens and lawns.

The walls gradually appear in front of you with a large sign above them stating ” Intramuros. You know you have arrived at the entrance ! At first glance the walls look like a low viaduct across the street and are pretty unassuming.

These are the defensive fortified walls built by the colonising Spanish in the 16th century. At various points they have arrowhead shaped bastions that jut out as part of the defensive works . You can walk pretty much all of the walls – they are long and exposed so check out the course before casually deciding to do this.

If you want to see the original entrance on this side of the walls, there is a small curving paved walkway to the left well before the arched bridge entrance you see ahead. You can visit this area to get a true idea of the entrance but this entrance is closed off as it goes into private property behind it.

It’s worth the couple of minutes detour there and back to see it however.

Back on the main road, through the entrance and this narrow road with narrow pavements, is the route you take into the centre of Intramuros.

Along the way various buildings come into view from plain walls to 1 storey buildings to a few 4 storied ones. Each luckily built in a rough colonial/Spanish style.

Several are original wood and stone faced buildings that have been preserved and really show the present day mix of old and new being used as functional offices, residences, medical centres etc.

This is General Luna Street and carries you up to the next stop to visit.

However look up above you – see the myriad of intertwining cables and wires. They almost form a canopy of hundreds at times. I’ve rarely seen such a mass of wires hung overhead and from buildings and they screamed safety alert from my European health and safety angle.

Here, this is the norm and I guess also because they can’t put these underground due to the preserved area they are in – and of course the cost to do so. These cables stream along building and overhead and will become your companion in many Manila streets!

Church of San Agustin.

This church was originally built in 1571 of bamboo and mangrove wood but burnt down soon after. The present church here – the third built on this site  – was completed in 1607 after 21 years of painfully slow construction and delays.

It is the oldest stone church in the country and the first original church on the island. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The church withstood countless earthquakes which often destroyed much of the city and only had its bell tower removed as being unsafe after one of them. Its history, in this troubled region, meant that it had been adapted at one point or another, voluntarily or not, as a hospital, concentration camp, refuge, prison and military centre.

Miguel López de Legazpi, the Spanish explorer and conqueror who laid claim to the Philippines for Spain in the 1500s and founded the city, is buried here.

The interior was just straight out of a traditional Spanish Catholic church of the 1600s. Not surprising as that was when it was built by Spanish colonialists. There was a wedding service going on here (but still open to the public to pray), so I kept my distant and watched from afar, not being able to go the main area to take photos. I noticed the garish neon and fairy lights decorating the interior. In the solemnity of this ancient church it just seemed wrong and tacky.

I’ve never seen this in a church before but learned that this tackiness, to my eyes at least, was quite normal in Philippino churches.

The ceiling is a real trompe l’oeil. The image it creates is of a richly plastered and moulded ceiling that at first glance looks real. You can however go up to a mezzanine floor that takes you almost into touching distance of the roof and there it becomes clear that it is cleverly painted to resemble that style.

Click here for Mass and opening times 

San Agustin Convent Museum, Manila

The next door Monastery building is actually from the 1970s despite its 16th century style, after it was completely destroyed by bombing in WW2.

It displays many ecclesiastical paintings, sculpture, and religious artefacts in a pseudo 16th century stone Spanish colonial building. It is rather well built and at first I thought it was a very well restored old building, but then the lack of wear begins to give away its more recent age.

The views over its lush grass lawned and palm fringed courtyard is picturesque, reminding me of the same in Geronimo’s Monastery in Lisbon.

I really didn’t understand a lot of the items, they were clearly important, religious and old but, apart from an art exhibition, lacked info tags about them.

However worth a visit for the atmosphere and the courtyard view (and cooling breezes through the windows).

Casa manila

Now just be very careful with this building as all is not quite what it seems at first !

It is a museum essentially, containing furniture, paintings and household items all in situ, in rooms as if it was a genuine house.

It is an 1850s house …. but was built in the 1980s by Imelda Marcos (her of the hundreds of pairs of shoes fame and wife of the then President!). The design was that of a copy of a house that actually did exist nearby. It is built in the Spanish colonial period style and blends in wonderfully with the nearby buildings.

Set to the side of the small plaza that the St Agustin church and Monastery is on, it complements the area very well.

The painted wooden top half and stone ground floor mirrors others in the street and along with its interior courtyard, with wishing well, gives a genuine colonial feel to the house.

Manila Cathedral 

Or to give it its full title -The Minor Basilica and Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Yep, quite a mouthful, so lets stick with the abbreviated form !

It was originally only a parish church and called  “Church of Manila”, being officially established in 1581. Having had seven previous cathedrals built on its site and all destroyed by earthquakes or fire and the last by bombing in WW2, the present structure dates from 1958.

It has the largest set of actively used bells in the Philippines. The refurbishment in 2004 added LED light and television screens for the public. Personally I feel it detracts from the interior grand arches and vaulted brick and whitewashed ceiling. Technology just looks so out of place here.

It is set on one side of a lawned and stone paved square with the site of the old Governor’s Palace to its side – now an impressive painted façade structure. Click here for info on Manila Cathedral opening times etc 

Fort Santiago

From the Cathedral it is a straight few minutes walk to the entrance area of probaly one of the main attractions in Manila.

Remenber that Manila was heavily bombed during WW2 and many of what were outstanding colonial buildings then, have been erased, some resconstructed and others put in their place in a similar style.

The Fort did not escape destruction as well, so take account that while there may not be a lot here, and much of it is in ruins, it has been heavily restored.

The black intricate metal fence at the entrance to the first plaza is set against the elaborate outer residential buildings. They are now homes and even a rather grand and large Polish Embassy now.  The horse drawn carts waiting ouside for paying tourists provide an elegant frontal approach.

You pay to go in and then walk the large paved and lawned central Plaza Moriones, adorned with trees, fountains and shrubbery. On either side are the ruins of old warehouses and even dormitory buildings, now a shell, but with relatively roofless intact walls.

There is a feeling of desolation and destruction but the gardens and greenery soften the blow providing a lush background to the stark barren walls.

There are plenty of benches to take a rest on, have a drink or just soak up the surroundings – in the Manila heat that would be a good idea at this point.

You now approach a small water area of what was a moat in the original plans. It is now sealed and forms a setting in front of the highly decorated and carved stone entranceway to the inner fort itself.

This small triangular citadel area was built in 1593 and forms the most secure area of the walled inner city that the Spaniards built.

It’s important to remember that the geography of the area was different in the 16th Century. The fort overlooks the Pasig River and the headland as it turns towards the sea. However, what is now a built up area leading to the port was at the time the sea facing area and the walls were a coastal defence system in this area.

Once through the gate, you are in Plaza de Armas, the main area of the fort. Here to one side is the ruined Theatre and  to the other the ruins of the barracks  – I told you it has lots of ruins!

In the centre of the grassed square is a monument to Jose Rizal, the executed patriot whose main commemorative Obelisk is in Rizal Park. Ahead are the dungeons where he was imprisoned and also where over 600 prisoners were incarcerated in appalling conditions that ultimately led to their deaths.

The dungeon also played its part in what is known as the Manila Massacre where the occupying Japanese forces of WW2 massacred 100,000 Manilan civilians in the city and dungeons before surrendering. A commemorative white cross stands facing the dungeon building in their memory.

To the right of the dungeon block is an open-air fortified bastion that overlooks the nearby Pasig River that formed part of the defensive wall. The views were across the murky river to massive high rise apartment blocks and various rusting or otherwise cargo ships moored against the opposite banks.

Not a particularly photogenic view but certainly panoramic enough to give you a sense of the fort’s military position and influence over the surrounding geography. You will hopefully get a cooling breeze here, as I did, to help you recover from the heat of the day.

Bonifacio and the Katipunan Revolution Monument, Manila

My final photo here is one of the Bonifacio and the Katipunan Revolution Monument, located near the city Hall and Central Terminal LRT train station.

Why? Well this man – Bonifacio – and his secret revolutionary movement, (with the unfortunate initials of KKK), started the first of many revolts against colonial powers that controlled the Philippines. First the Spanish in 1896 and then the Americans in 1899.

Whilst the nation didn’t get their true independence until 1946, this leader and his movement (including Jose Rizal, of whom I have mentioned also here) started the revolt against colonialism.

I also like the monument, (unveiled in 1998), as it is so different is style from anything else I have seen in Manila. It was such was a fresh face to contemplate in this city – a bit gaudy, a bit disjointed, very colourful and semi Soviet revolutionary in style !

My thoughts on Manila

Manila is now complete !

Have I enjoyed my stay.? Well, yes and no. Loved the Spanish colonial architecture and impressive walled fortifications of the city. Loved the wood and stone buildings of the Intramuros area and the size of the enormous Rizal Park.

However didn’t enjoy the uneasy feeling I got when outside these tourist area, the looks from dodgy looking youth gangs and the lack of police presence, yet every major store or site had armed guards at the door. The obvious poverty was unnerving,

I had seen poverty in other cities and even neighbouring countries but the crowds and unfettered visibility of it along with the overt attempts at begging and being constantly approached and identified as an easy target was unnerving and made me feel somewhat vulnerable.

But hey, I survived and am here to tell the tale.

Is Manila worth the effort. I would say yes as few cities in S E Asia have the uniqueness of the Intramuros area and fort, which I will never forget.

If I could only see five cities in this region, would Manila be on the list? – no, there are others more worthy.

Oct 2017.