We rested afternoon away after a whole day of exploring at the Heritage City of Vigan. When we got out again it was already sundown and the whole city of Vigan seemed to have gone home and fallen asleep. It is funny how this already sleepy town can get even sleepier at sundown.
Plaza Salcedo is lit with brilliant lights. You can find residents just sitting around the plaza and relaxing. There are hardly any motorcycles around anymore so the place is really very quiet. The provincial capitol is similarly lit but the Vigan Cathedral is the one that steals the show. It is brightly lit and even the inside of the church is very beautiful at night. Even at this hour there are still worshippers. It turns out there was a wedding being held and there was a nice horse drawn chariot outside the church to ferry the newly wed couple out. Quite romantic, don’t you think?
Further along that stretch of road is the old quarter which we have visited earlier. This time there are hardly any people. All the stores are closed, the streets are lit up by incandescent bulbs which lend to the atmosphere. It was really nice to be walking at such a nice and well maintained place without the usual tourist crowd. Although the shops are already closed, the walk down Crisologo Street is like walking back in time. It really feels like you’ve been transported four hundred years into the past. The occasional horse drawn carriage or calesa along Crisologo Streets also helps. In fact, this is something I didn’t do, I would recommend trying the calesas during this time as it is really very atmospheric.
We walked back to the start of Crisologo Street and had dinner at Cafe Leona. It is a nice little restaurant serving Filipino and Ilocano fare. We ordered their Ilocano specialties bagnet, which is fried pork, the Ilocano sausage and a vegetable dish. Cafe Leona is a little more upscale but it has a great location. Customers can choose to sit outside the restaurant itself, al fresco, which is not a bad idea at all. The food was nice, though I don’t really see what was so different about local specialties since they are very similar to Filipino food I had before. Nevertheless, a meal at Cafe Leona is recommended if only for the wonder atmosphere.
It was really a wonderful day of wandering aroud the streets of the city. And capping it off with dinner along this historic street is a fitting end for our exploration here in the historic city of Vigan.
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