Vigan

30 DEC. — There was no rush to get home and we had a choice to spend the extra night in Laoag or Vigan. Wilbert had insisted that we go see his aunt Tessie in Laoag. It would've been nice to see her since my first and only visit to Laoag in 1982, but the lure of old houses and history took us to Vigan instead. We had no hotel reservation and it was our first time in the city, so we checked in the first place we thought looked okay, the Vigan Heritage Mansion, on the corner of Liberation and Crisologo. The hotel was an 1885 structure which became the home of Ilocos Sur Gov. Pedro Singson; it was remodeled by his daughter.

Had a late lunch /early dinner at Café Leona. The thin-crust pizza was good. I had the spicy squid. Bel ordered pinakbet and bagnet; Lorenzo the calamares sisig. (The link will take you to a posting by one very disappointed visitor.) The upside for me was Leona's story. Leona Florentino was a 19th-century poet who wrote in both English and Iloko. She was the mother of Isabelo de los Reyes, labor leader, journalist, founder of the Aglipayan church (but returned to the Catholic faith before he died), and Senator. He and Jose Rizal were second cousins. The fact that it was Rizal Day made our Vigan stop even more memorable.



So much for history. It seems that some of Vigan's famous past were so excited to welcome Bel to the city that she had trouble sleeping that night.



Vigan at night