Now that I’m done with the surprisingly interesting town of Loboc, having done the Loboc River cruise, admired the Loboc Church and swooned over an adorable tarsier, I finally made my way out of Loboc. I stood by the road waiting for transportation back to Tagbilaran. After fifteen minutes a multi-cab finally came and I got on. I was looking through the extremely useful Bohol tourism brochure to plan my next visit. I decided that I would be visiting the town of Loay.
The town of Loay is at a major branch off point on southern Bohol. From Tagbilaran, vehicles would turn here to go to the inland towns of Loboc, Bilar and Carmen. You can also continue following the coast where there are more small towns along the way. When I got off in Loay, I didn’t really know much about it having only seen it in the tourism brochure. Naturally for me, I went for what is possibly the most historic building in the area – the Loay Church.
The Loay Church is also known as the Church of the Holy Trinity or Santissima Trinidad Church. The parish is relatively new having been split off from the Loboc parish only in the late 1700s. Like most of the churches here in Bohol, the main church building has a cruciform shape and the bell tower is separated from the main structure. The sides of the church is reinforced by huge buttresses. The church is built on top of a small hill overlooking the sea. There is short flight of stairs from the main highway leading to the church – as a nice local kindly pointed out.
Like the Loboc Church, the Loay Church’s bell tower also has an octagonal shape, possibly pointing to a subtle Chinese influence in its construction. This may be true since the Chinese of Loay have figured somewhat prominently in the past. Unfortunately for me, the church was closed. It was in the middle of the day and the sun was really bearing down on me. The church would serve as a perfect shelter from the searing heat. Not to mention that I would have loved to admire the interiors of the church which is similar to the Loboc Church.
So not having anything else to do here, I waited outside the main road again in the noon time heat and hailed a multi-cab heading to Tagbilaran City.
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