Quick Travel to Ilocos Region

I would recommend that you should not follow what we did; something came up while we were working and instead of departing Friday (Feb. 5, 2016) 10pm  we ended up at Saturday 1am so we don't have any choice but to eliminate some attractions.

Here our itinerary goes:

Feb. 6, 2016

1am: Departed from Manila to Vigan 

10am: Arrived at Vigan, Ilocos Sur

First stop-  Quirino Bridge

Second stop-  Bantay Bell Church

St. Agustine Parish

In my previous blog I called this church the new Bantay Church. Lol! 

     Inside St. Agustine Parish

11am: Early Lunch

11:45am: Proceed to Baluarte

We just had a quick and short tour. We didn't even go inside the museum, just a photo op with the huge Baluarte sign. 

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12 noon: Head to Laoag

3:30pm: Arrived in Laoag 

1st stop- Paoay Church

    Beautiful Paoay Church from the outside. 

    Inside Paoay Church

2nd stop- Sand Dunes

Unfortunately when we got there it was closed because they were still fixing their permit. :( 

We still got the chance to take photos. 

    One of my favorite! 

3rd stop- Paoay Lake 

It is a must to read the Legend of Paoay Lake. 

We just sat here to take photos. Those tables and chairs are from the restaurant and souvenir shop. Perfect place to have a date. 

We proceed to Pagudpud at around 4:30pm 

9:30pm- We arrived at Pagudpud, with a rainy and windy weather. We thought it was just for tonight but it wasn't. 

My friend contacted a local with a transient house before going to Ilocos. But if you do not have any contact before going there, some locals offer transient houses. Or you may want to check in at Hannah's or any other resort.

We ate our dinner in the nearby restaurant which was very expensive and the food was not good (yung pwede na, lamang tyan din yan) I suggest before going to Pagudpud go somewhere to eat. 

We slept early because we have an early call time and we are all tired. 

Feb. 7, 2016

6:00am- Call time and we had breakfast.

The weather did not permit us to experience the beautiful beach of Pagudpud. Instead this happened to the beach in front of the transient house we rented. Even in the morning it was still windy and cold! 

Here's the beach in front of Hannah's Resort.

7:00am Departed from Pagudpud

     Patapat Bridge 

Photo op at Welcome to Pagudpud Arc.

There's a Bangui windmill fridge magnet seller here. I bought 3 mini fridge magnet Bangui windmill for only Php50.

8:30am- Arrived at Bangui Windmill

I don't have any nice or instagram worthy pictures here in Bangui, the wind is so strong and the waves are huge! It was quite scary! 

Around 10am our Next stop was Kapurpurawan Rock Formation

I'm scared to take too many pictures coz' 1. It's too crowded, 2. Very windy! And 3. The water sprinkles in the air, it's like drizzling. My phone is not waterproof. 

11am-Next? Cape Bojeador 

They made the lighthouse a museum, in which each room there are instruments and descriptions. No entrance fees! 

We had lunch in a local restaurant and it was yummy unfortunately I forgot the name of the restaurant, also I don't have any photos since we were too hungry and excited to eat! 

We arrived at Malacañang of the North

Around 2:30pm

They have an entrance fee of Php 30 for Adults and Php 10 for Children.

Here are some photos inside:

    Reception area and Bedroom 

    President Marcos' Office

    Upper left: Imee Marcos' Bedroom 

    Upper right: President Ferdinand and First Lady Imelda Marcos' Bathroom and Walk-in closet

 Lower left: Senator Bong Bong Marcos' bedroom

 Lower right: President Ferdinand and First Lady Imelda Marcos' Masters bedroom

We went to Presidential Center where you can view the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Unfortunately it was close. :(

After our tour we've decided to go pasalubong shopping (though I did not buy anything from Laoag, only my friends). 

We planned to have a dinner at one of our friends house in Laoag, her mother prepared food for us. That's the only  time we have tasted or ate an authentic Ilocano dishes (lol!). I love the food in the province, so fresh and very delicious. 

Oh! Before I forgot we reached in her house at around 6:30pm and departed around 8:00pm.

    Laoag's Bell tower (I am amazed on how gorgeous this tower is. It is timeless and very relaxing to the eye, specially Laoag is a very busy city now, but this tower made me stop and just look at it.) 

   There were a lot of tourists during this time because they have a fiesta. 

We headed back to Vigan to explore Calle Crisologo in night time, the church, and buy Pasalubong at Marsha's. 

Arrived in Vigan 10:00pm. Time to see the wonders of Vigan at night.

  Colorful Ilocos Sur (last year it was plain orange) 

   St. Paul Metropolitan Cathedral Vigan

   Plaza Salcedo and St. Paul Metropolitan Cathedral

  This is new, after announcing that Vigan or Calle Crisology is included in 7 wonders. 

These are my favorite photos at Calle Crisologo:

After exploring Vigan we went to Marsha's to buy pasalubong (leche flan, bibingka and baked mac).

Feb. 8,2016 

We departed from Marsha's around 12mn and we arrived in Manila around 6am!! Our driver nailed it. I did not sleep properly the whole time because I was scared and he was really in a hurry. 

I guess I still have reasons to go back to Ilocos:

1. Kabigan Falls 

2. 4x4 ride in Sand Dunes Paoay  

3. Go inside Presidential Center
4. Vitalis Villa 

If you want a relax and Vigan only itinerary you may check out my blog last year My Holy Week in Vigan . .

Xoxo,

Tara

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