Rizal Park

The 58-hectare Rizal Park is named for Dr Jose Rizal, famous Philippine anti-colonialist, writer and thinker. The park is among the largest in South East Pacific Rim, and is a green lung much employed by the people who reside in Manila for recreation and entertainment. The park features countless decorative gardens, a chess piazza and a skating rink. In a pool on the easterly side of the park the Philippines archipelago has been recreated in tiny. There are some museums and public buildings in the park, and after nightfall a sound and light exhibit featuring the martyrdom of Dr Jose Rizal is to be seen. On Sundays there’s a free concert in an open-air auditorium.

Intramuros

The oldest part of Manila is the medieval Spanish walled enclave of Intramuros on the southern bank of the Pasig Stream , packed with consequential buildings and churches, plenty of which are being or have been revived. The reconstruction of Intramuros has permitted for the including of a couple of parks and performing places, art studios, keepsake shops and eateries, so the area has become an interesting, entertaining and engaging tourist Mecca. Fort Santiago, for instance, was where political captives thru the ages, from Spanish to Japanese occupation, were held, tortured and infrequently executed. Today it’s a lush park full of blooming trees and homing pigeons where visitors can take a ride the promenade on a horse-drawn carriage. Then, in the Barrio San Luis along Juan Luna Street there are 5 colonial places that’ve been fantastically revived.

San Agustin Church

Inside Intramuros stands Manila’s oldest stone church, San Agustin, which was finished in 1606 and has since then survived the ravages of time and successive invasions. The church has a superb intricately carved door, Baroque pulpit, and an eighteenth century pipe organ. A museum is housed in the Priory next to the church, which holds a collection of paintings of saints and other religious art. The Sacristy homes a collection of sumptuously embroidered vestments and Philippine notables are buried in the crypt.

National Countrywide Museum of the Philippines

The huge and complete Nationwide Museum of the Philippines preserves and showcases the cultural, historic and natural heritage of the islands with collections housed in 2 different buildings ( inside Rizal Park ). Exhibits are classified in 5 divisions : art, botany, zoology, geology and anthropology. Among many archaeological exhibits is the skull of ‘Tabon Man’ ; the oldest human remains found in the archipelago. The section dedicated to the Filipino Folk involves the saved remains and treasures of the San Diego Spanish galleon that sank in Philippine waters in 1600.

Malacanang Palace

The name of this Palace, now the seat of central authority and official residence of the Philippines chief of state, comes from the language ‘May Lakan Diyan’, that means ‘there lives a noble man ‘. This gracious villa has been a noble residence on the north bank of the Pasig Stream since the eighteenth century, when it was built for a Spanish aristocrat. In 1825 the Spanish Central authority acquired the property as a summer house for the Governor General, nevertheless it later turned into the permanent seat of the state head. There’s now a museum housed in the palace that features souvenirs from each one of the Philippine’s presidents, including the scandalous Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.