Experience the heart and soul of Iloilo City in just 24 hours with our comprehensive travel guide. From the captivating heritage sites to the mouthwatering culinary delights, this is your passport to making the most of your day in this charming city.
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00 What's up? I'm Kiko from Spot.ph and we are here in Iloilo City.
00:04 It's a bright and sunny day here in Iloilo City and we are starting today
00:23 here at the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art or Ilo Moka as the locals call it.
00:29 The Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art or Ilo Moka is the perfect place for art lovers to appreciate local work.
00:36 It features exhibits from artists around the country along with installations like Kauna Ta, a melding of visual flavors.
00:44 This exhibit brings together 42 artists from Metro Manila and Western Visayas
00:50 to focus on the idea of an aesthetic cuisine where food is used as a metaphor for cultural consumption,
00:58 community and identity, and originality and invention.
01:01 Though I could spend almost an entire afternoon here, there was more to see.
01:06 So for those looking for a more tactile experience, right next to Ilo Moka is the Brandy Museum.
01:12 So the good thing about this Brandy Museum is that they take us through the entire process of how brandy is made.
01:19 Like I didn't know it starts out as wine, then goes through this machine until we get to that brandy flavor that we love.
01:27 Pretty interesting.
01:28 A Brandy Museum experience is not complete without trying, well, brandy of course.
01:37 The session gave us an idea on how best to enjoy this complex drink.
01:42 It's amazing to be able to appreciate brandy in a way that I haven't before.
01:46 And with this newfound appreciation, it was the perfect time to head off to lunch.
01:52 [Music]
02:04 Here in Iloilo, the locals would say this is a city where the past is always present.
02:10 And there's no better way to experience and feel this than here at Kaminya Balaynga Bato.
02:15 This beautiful ancestral building is where we are having lunch.
02:20 [Music]
02:23 And what an honor it is to dine here.
02:26 There is an air where you can feel the past meeting the present.
02:30 Built in 1860 and finished in 1865, one thing to notice here is the mix of Spanish and Filipino influence in the architecture.
02:39 It now serves as a living museum and a restaurant, keeping alive Filipino traditions and Visayan recipes.
02:48 After a fruitful meal, we headed out to visit a few more historic locations here in Iloilo.
02:54 Our next stop is this pretty historic structure here in Iloilo called Aro Cathedral, built in the 1800s,
03:04 and was visited by none other than Pope John Paul II in 1981.
03:08 Fun fact about this church. It only features male saints.
03:15 This is in response to the all-female ensemble of the Molo Church nearby, which we will visit as well.
03:21 There is just a lot of art to appreciate in this historic cathedral.
03:27 And after taking it all in, we went off to our next destination.
03:31 In the early days, the Iloilo port used to be one of the busiest ports in the Philippines.
03:42 And today, the Iloilo River is one of the city's crown jewels.
03:47 There is so much to learn about the Philippine maritime history, and they're all here in this museum.
03:53 It's dinner time and this one's really special.
04:08 We are here now at Courtyard by Marriott, and we have been invited to a very special dinner for a cause.
04:15 I'll go grab that dinner now.
04:18 This is Sengka Fiesta, a dinner hosted by the Courtyard by Marriott for the benefit of the NGO called Sayaw PD.
04:33 Sayaw PD is a non-profit organization that helps people with Parkinson's disease cope better through dance.
04:40 They use elements of therapy with the goal of letting their students be creative,
04:45 have fun, and relish the joy of dancing.
04:48 If you want to know more about Sayaw PD, visit the Esquire Philippines YouTube channel to watch the full video.
04:58 It was a long day, so a restful night at one of Courtyard by Marriott's comfortable rooms
05:04 is just the perfect thing we need to close this adventure.
05:09 After having a quick breakfast at the house restaurant Runway Kitchen,
05:16 we headed out to Molo Church to have a quiet morning at the plaza and close out our 24 hours.
05:23 I'm here at the park, Molo Plaza.
05:28 Where the Molo Church is located.
05:30 Just sitting here by the park, you see the children
05:34 going about their day-to-day, practicing their school requirements. You see kids running around.
05:40 It's a different vibe here in Iloilo City.
05:43 But it's good.
05:46 It's pretty good.
05:47 24 hours?
05:48 Definitely do it here in Iloilo.
05:50 [Music]