Went to Tagaytay with my former officemates over the weekend for a bit of sigh-seeing. Since I was the only one familiar with the place (what can I say, back in high school and college, my family would go there practically every week and we’ve witnessed how it transformed from a lazy town to the buzzing tourist spot it is right now), and we had only one day. I had to carefully plan our itinerary.
I first thought of going boating but with just a few days, I didn’t have enough time to organize this one. I also scratched off the Taal Cathedral as honestly, I’ve never been there although I’m dying to visit it one of these days.
So I decided to take them to Caleruega. I figured we’d head there straight from Makati to avoid the afternoon sun and the crowd (plus, the weather is so damn unpredictable and rain would ruin our plans).
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| you have to walk and climb for about fifteen minutes to get here |
I just love this place, especially the camp site. It’s so peaceful and I love looking around me and seeing nothing but an endless expanse of green. I wish it could stay like this forever. If I had millions, I would buy all the farm land in that area so that it will never be turned into a residential/commercial area.
I forgot to ask our friends if they were Catholics but I decided to show them the church anyway. This is another feature I love – I would have considered getting married there had I seen it beforehand (although it probably would have been a logistical nightmare, what with the number of guests we had): quaint and rustic.
Up next, we went to Taal Vista. This place actually has one of the nicest views of the Taal Lake. It can get crowded sometimes but the viewing deck is big and you can always sit on the grass if you get tired. Luckily for us, the sun was shining brightly that morning and we were able to see the volcano (Fun fact: Taal used to be one of the tallest volcanoes in the world, but it’s now the smallest. That’s not to say it’s not dangerous; it’s one of the most active in the country).
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| fine, so I focused more on the tree than on the volcano |
After that, we were pretty much famished and headed off to Antonio’s Grill. I actually had in mind Sonia’s Garden but we passed it on the road from Caleruega.
We were just in time – it started raining heavily and it was zero visibility as soon as we were seated at a cozy table. It got so foggy that we couldn’t see outside the window, not even to where we left our car.
The last time I was over at Antonio’s Grill, I wasn’t very impressed with the food. So I decided to order something else entirely which proved to be worth it. Everyone looooved the food!
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| squid sisig |
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| ensaladang mangga – a bit too sour for me though. I wish they’d used ripe mangoes |
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| Bulalo – you CAN NOT leave Tagaytay without eating this dish |
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| lechon kawali – not so crispy but good enough |
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| grilled hito – I can’t remember the last time I ate this fish. But I loved it! |
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| fresh fruit platter for dessert |
Guess it’s quite obvious I pigged out that day; in fact, I ate more rice than our two male companions. Hahaha!
