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a tour of the smallest and oldest tri-
bastion fort in the Philippines built in
1738
by the Spanish, Fort San Pedro
(
PHP30).
Also located in this general vicinity is
what is now known as the oldest dated
house in the country, The Jesuit House
(
PHP30 for local tourists, PHP75 for
foreigners; 26 Zulueta St, Pari-an;
tel: +63 32 255 5409
).
Discovered
inside a
bodega
(
warehouse) for Ho
Tong Hardware, the shop-owner’s
son Jimmy Sy recognized it from a
sketch of a house he’d seen in one
of his textbooks – it wasn’t opened
to the public until four years ago.
Jimmy and his cousin, architect Tony
Abelgas, have become the custodians
of the storied house that continues to
tell its tale, as new discoveries about
it are unearthed. Objects that have
been dug up as the foundations were
being fortified – such as old coins and
ceramics from Indonesia, Japan and
China – are now on display at the
ground floor museum.
For dinner, walk across from The
Jesuit House, past the Heritage of
Cebu Monument built on the site of the
original Plaza Parian, and into another
culinary find: Café Elysa (
30-
A Zamora
St, Parian; tel: +63 32 414 9265
)
serves “travel-inspired cuisine” as well
as Filipino favorites, reworked by New
York-trained sommelier Stephen Aznar.
Dishes you shouldn’t miss include the
Cebuano adobo with
buwad
,
or dried
fish flakes (PHP195);
pancit Pari-an
(
PHP225), a dish faithful to the recipe
of the original families in the area
who served it in parties, flavored with
the drippings of sautéed pork and the
natural salt of market-bought noodles;
and
humba
(
PHP195), a delicious pork
dish. All these make for a shared meal
that’ll cost your gang of five about
PHP150 each.
Shoestring budget for
Day 2:
About PHP1200
per traveler
Clockwise from
top left: Discover
the oldest-dated
house in the country
and its ghostly
chambers; try local
dishes at Café Elysa;
the museum at The
Jesuit House.
New discoveries about
The Jesuit House continue
to be unearthed...
T H E S H O E S T R I N G D
I A R I E S
