Cebu City the centrepoint to the trip

In terms of a traveling reference when you say the word Cebu for to a trip in the Philippines you need to be careful. Island or City? What's your prospective? Cebu City is the second city of the Philippines. However when you say Cebu most think you mean the whole region. There is so much to Cebu. A lot to take in from the city, to the north, to the south, and there were even destinations on the Matcan Island to the east I missed all because of time. Hence you can understand why it makes for such a good launchpad for seeing the Philippines.

For me there were stays in the city making it a central anchor to my tour. I had arrived by plane, but then nearly immediately departed by bus for Bantayan in the north. Then I returned by bus only the then go on a day tour south to Moalboal. And then after my stay I left by ferry onto Bohol. It's large, it's developed. The city is no iconic must see for nature the city itself but it is an important jump point from which everything is found. It is though unfair to say this is just a big transit lounge. Cebu City has it's own historical and cultural importance. 

For most this cultural importance is the main festival of Cebu, Sinulog. Its held in late January and centres around the church, music and celebrations. This was just prior to my arrival. By missing this I effectively missed the excessive overcrowding, premium pricing of hotels, and just overall street chaos which I found was already present at just natural Philippine levels. And well that sort of experience was not for me so I wasn't disappointed to miss. That left me to just explore the streets of Cebu City, and visit the main historical point from my prospective. And well from my prospective I was there for one thing, "Magellan was 'ere". Seemed that Magellan, that world discovering Spaniard, the one we all learnt about in high school, visited Cebu and made claims to the place in the 1500s. The Spanish didn't get totally perceived as despised colonalists subsequently written out of the historical books. So Magellan is still cool here.   

Magellan's Cross was the most significant point in terms of history for Philippines from my prospective on this trip. It's not to say this was the most important monument for the Philippines as a whole, or for its culture. But hey Australia can't lay claim to having any colonial history available which is also revered as well as this by the original locals. The Spanish made peace with the locals.

 

 

In my rambling around the main church near the Magellan's Cross I was able to confirm that indeed the Pope himself seemed to give his blessing to the recycling bins. Nice work Pope, but can you also help on also getting the rubbish outside of the church area under control too. Alas Philippines is still a developing country and there are pockets of improvement still to be made. A bit of a "Keep Philippines Beautiful" bin pride could go a long way.