Historic Ilocos Churches

October 26-29, 2007. An Ilocos tour would not be complete without seeing its historic churches. We weren't able to cover them all, but we were lucky enough to see three of these landmarks: Sta. Maria Church, St. Paul's Metropolitan Cathedral and Laoag's Sinking Bell Tower.



The Sta. Maria Church in Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur was built in 1769 and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. A very picturesque church in a quiet town. If my digicam's battery wasn't drained, there would've been more shots. Thank God for my SE W800i or else there wouldn't be any pictures of this church to post.

 

St. Paul's Cathedral is located in Vigan City. It was built by the Augustinian friars and has a "distinct "Earthquake Baroque" style of the Ilocos region and features Neo-Gothic and pseudo Romanesque motifs," according to www.dotpcvc.gov.ph. The full moon gave the night shots an eerie feel, and if you look closely you'll see orbs. Spooky.


Seeing the Sinking Bell Tower was only by accident as we we only made a stopover to Laoag City for half an hour before going to Pagudpud. We only ate a quick lunch (at 3:00 pm) before proceeding to the bus terminal. Good thing I remembered to buy my contact lens solution from an optical shop which incidentally sits in front of the bell tower. So I got my digicam and took some photos. If you find the shots a bit off-center, that's because the Sinking Bell Tower sinks an inch every year, much like the Leaning Tower of Pisa... But the good thing is it's still working just like the bell tower in Sta. Maria. Unfortunately, the Sinking Bell Tower is 85 meters away from the church so we weren't able to get a peek at St. William's Church, which is older than the Paoay Church also located in Ilocos Norte.

If churches here were as beautiful as these ones, I'd probably hear mass everyday. =)