Cebu Family Trip 2015 - Part 3

Since our 2nd day was busy, we decided to take it easy on the 3rd day. We just visited one of the big malls in Cebu City where we ate lunch and the kids played a little.

After the mall, my mom and I decided to go to Taboan Market to buy our pasalubong. Taboan has all the dried seafood Cebu has to offer and more. We also saw some stalls selling longganisang Cebu, dried mangoes and Peanut Kisses. It's a one-stop shop for pasalubong.

Some tips when buying pasalubong in Taboan:

- Make sure that you bring extra shirt. The smell of the dried goods is quite strong and may stay with you and your clothes even after you have left the place. Better yet, make sure that this is the last in your itinerary for the day. According to the seller I spoke with, they stay open till 8pm if there are still customers.

- Canvass first before buying. The first store offered a kilo of danggit for 680 pesos. Across the street, another store is selling it for only 630 pesos.

- Ask them to pack the dried seafood properly so that it would not smell when you check it in at the airport. They do airtight packaging using plastic but it will be better to use carton boxes and surround it with packing tape.

After shopping for pasalubong, we decided to walk around Cebu Capitol. We chanced upon an ice cream place called Ice Giants that also served delicious pasta dishes. We highly recommend this place for foodie travellers.

On our 4th day, we were scheduled to go back to Mactan and transfer to Crowne Regency Suites. We rented a van again to pick us up from Cebu R Hotel. After checking out, we had lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Cebu, Luy's. I tried this restaurant in 2013 when we went to Cebu for one of our work assignments, and it was, by far, the best Chinese restaurant I've ever tried. So, I made a promise to go back, and I did, this time with my family.

Before proceeding to Mactan, we visited one of the more famous tourist spots in Cebu City, Fort San Pedro. If you are from Manila and you're familiar with Intramuros, this place is very similar to that.

It is a walled place with a garden, often used as a wedding venue. This particular place reminded me of Puerta Real in Intramuros.

Another attraction is an art museum that features paintings and other wood crafts like the modelboats in the photo.

After Fort San Pedro, we still had time for one more activity before we check in to our 3rd hotel. So, we made a short stop at one of the guitar stores in Mactan.

Of course, because the guitar prices here are way cheaper than in Manila, I could not resist buying one.

We also made a stop in San Pedro Calungsod Chapel in Mactan. When you visit Mactan, you should drop by this church. The architecture is breathtaking and one-of-a-kind.

Photo Credit: philstar.com

Crown Regency Suites is our last accommodation before leaving for Manila. I booked for a 3-bedroom suite but there was some mix up in their booking system and there was no available 3-bedroom suite when we checked in. They decided to give us the 3-bedroom villa instead, at no extra cost. This was no villa for me, this is a house! A big, 3-bedroom house! Not bad, eh?

Crown Regency also had pools and for the rest of the afternoon, the girls just enjoyed swimming.

The following day was our flight back to Manila.  I have arranged with the hotel the use of their free shuttle to the airport. That's another tip: do ask your hotel if they offer free shuttle to bring you to the airport. It's so convenient and you'll save a lot of money.

Then, it was, "Bye Cebu!" for us. Our vacation in Cebu was one worth remembering and we hope that we can go back there soon.

Cebu Family trip 2015 - Part 2

Our day 2 was probably the busiest. We rented a van to transfer to Cebu City from Mactan. The van we rented costs 4,000 pesos for 10 hours, inclusive of fuel and driver. It was a 2014 Grand Starex, so it was fairly new.

Upon check out from Costabella, we decided to have lunch in Lantaw Floating Restaurant in Cordova.

 

I felt giddy with excitement because I really love seafood and floating restos. We were so hungry that I forgot to take photos of the food. But I can assure you, it was really good! 

Before transferring to the city, we decided to make a quick stop to the Lapulapu Shrine in Mactan.

The trip from Mactan to Cebu City was quite long, not because of the distance, but because of the horrendous traffic. It's like we never left Manila, really. 

I was really worried that we would not be able to reach a few more tourist spots in Cebu City that I would like to visit before sundown. It was almost 4pm when we got to our 2nd hotel, Cebu R Hotel in Capitol. We checked in first before leaving for our next destination. The rooms at Cebu R Hotel was as expected. It was good enough for it's price. We got 2 family rooms for 2 nights for only 8,000 pesos including breakfast. Not bad.

After checking in, we immediately left the hotel to go to our next stop, the Taoist Temple. When I was preparing for our itinerary before this trip, this was one of the tourist spots that really caught my attention.

Visiting the Taoist Temple gives one the feeling of being outside the Philippines and instead being in one of our neighboring ASEAN countries. And since the temple is situated in the hilly part of the city, you'll have an overlooking view of Cebu.

 

We only stayed in the temple for a few minutes because we had to rush to our next destination: the Basilica del Sto. Nino and Magellan's Cross. Unfortunately, Magellan's Cross was under renovation when we got there, so it was closed. We opted to take a photo of the exterior instead.

When we got to the church, there was a mass on-going, so we decided to attend the mass. It was almost sundown, so we knew that this would probably be our last stop. Then I remembered having Larsian in our itinerary. So, I suggested that after the mass, we go to Larsian to have dinner.

Larsian is a "paluto" place and it offers a different dining experience. The food stalls offer all sorts of raw seafood and meat for grilling (they also offer sinigang for some). Food is eaten by hand, using plastic gloves and utensils will only be provided upon request.

They also serve "puso", also called "hanging rice". It is rice "wrapped in banana leaves and steamed to perfection" as defined in www.OneCebu.com.

The long day ended with a great meal and I'm glad the entire family had fun.
 

Cebu Family Trip 2015 - Part 1

We usually spend our Holy Week in my mom's hometown in Legaspi City, Albay. Earlier this year, we started making plans for the Holy Week and I was able to convince my parents to try a new place. They would not go as far as Hongkong -- my parents never travelled outside the country before. But as a starter, I wanted them to experience vacationing in a different island region, and we all agreed to go to Cebu.

It was also the first time that the entire family is riding an airplane together.

Our first stop was Costabella Resort in Mactan. We stayed overnight here since we wanted to spend at least a day in the beach. Costabella was a very good resort. Quite pricey but when you get there, you can see why.

The lobby as well as the interiors were filled with wooden antique furniture.

We got 2 family rooms with 2 queen-sized beds. The rooms were very spacious. The bathroom was very nice and clean. Accommodations were really good. No complaints here.

Our rooms were located on the building farthest from the shore. But it's ok since the beach is still just a couple of meters aways from our building.

The rattan cabanas with round mattress were really nice an  cozy.

The beach has white sand though not as powder-fine as Boracay. When we went there, the beach had a lot of moss and, according to the locals, it is quite common during the early days of summer.

Despite the presence of moss, my daughters still enjoyed the waters. 

And if the moss really bothers you, you can transfer to their pools. They have 2 big pools and they are perfect for families since one of the pools has a part where the water is only 1.5 feet high, great for small kids like Darla.

If there was one complaint we had about Costabella, it was that the food was not outstanding. For its price, we expected the food to be good. The lunch had small servings per order. We were so disappointed that we decided to eat out during dinner.

We ate dinner at Maribago Grill. The food was good, but the service was not. They were serving the dishes one by one and it took so long that we would finish one dish before the next one came. At least the food was good.

Breakfast buffet came with our accommodations fee at Costabella. Good enough but not, again, not something I would go back for. By noon time the following day, we checked out and rented a van to transfer to the city.