If you should ever find yourself in Legazpi City or its environs in Albay, there are six places you should visit to play tourist.
Cagsawa Ruins
The Cagsawa belfry is our version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Though in Italy, the tourists play around with perspective and pretend that they're keeping the tower from falling over, tourists of the Franciscan church ruins in Daraga pretend to be titans lording over the church tower.
Also, in the middle of the surrounding souvenir shops and eateries is a papier-mâché-like statue of Daragang Magayon, the heroine of the legend of Mt. Mayon. P5 gets you all the pictures you want to take with/of the statue.
Daraga church or Nuestra Señora de la Porteria
The Our Lady of the Gate Parish Church was also established by the Franciscans. The story goes that after Mayon's eruption in 1814 buried Cagsawa, the survivors moved to this town.
The church, like the Cagsawa ruins, is made of volcanic rock. However, a lime coating that was applied to protect the Renaissance Gothic/Mexican baroque structure has also turned the church white.
Ligñon Hill Nature Park
One of the locals told me that Legazpi City was safe from Mt. Mayon lava flows because the Ligñon hill serves as a protective dyke that will stop the flow from washing over the city.
This is one of the best places to catch a view of Mayon. From the park, the volcano eats up almost the entire horizon, left to right.
Additionally, if you walk over to the other side of the park, you get sweeping view of Legazpi City and the Albay Gulf.
Catholic devotees ask for their personal intentions from their patron saints during a Visita Iglesia at the Our Lady of the Gate parish church in Daraga, Albay on Maundy Thursday, April 17. Visita Iglesia is a traditional Holy Week practice of Catholics to visit and pray in at least seven churches. Danny Pata
This coastal road puts you right on top of the Gulf. I was told that the whole roadside comes to life at night with a series of barbecue joints and night owls enjoying an evening walk and the seaside air.
Typhoon Reming Memorial
In 2006, Typhoon Reming caused heavy landslides in Albay that killed between 800 to 1,000 people. Entire communities were buried or washed away.
One of the badly hit areas was Barangay Padang. The entire community ceased to exist after the lahar flows—a combination of volcanic ash from Mayon and Reming's heavy rain—overran the area.
Padang is on the way to Sto. Domingo town, and by the highway is a memorial for those lost during Reming—three crosses linked together, on a pedestal.
From the monument, Mayon is only between 15 and 20 kilometers away. She's massive and overwhelming from that vantage point, too. But, from here, you look at her a little fearfully as well.
St. Dominic de Guzman Church
The church is in Sto. Domingo town, the birthplace of Potenciano Gregorio, the composer of that most famous of Bicolano songs "Sarung Banggi".
The church, of course, is made of black volcanic rock. It isn't as massive or ornate as the Our Lady of the Gate Parish Church. However, Mayon is much closer, looming over the church's two bell towers.
And, if the light is just right, from here Mayon looks like the moon in daytime—it's a white outline in the blue sky. — VC, GMA News
SOURCE: GMA
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