Olde worlde Spanish Colonial charm

If you can forget the motorised tuk-tuks, which can make the atmosphere almost as bad as in Manila, Vigan is a pleasant, old-fashioned place. I was woken one morning by the sound of music under my window. Passing by was a funeral procession, with a dozen bandsmen in white and yellow playing trumpets and drums, followed by the hearse on a decorated carriage, a hundred or so followers on foot, and half an hour’s worth of delayed ordinary traffic. People came to their doorways and windows to watch, no one minded the delay, life went on.

Another day, I noticed a large shiny chocolate-coloured insect running along the ground as I began to walk up Crisologo Street. Then another. And more. I stopped to ask a street-seller what they were, and she explained that the authorities were fumigating the sewers, which had driven the resident cockroaches to the surface. By now, they were everywhere, some flying, most scuttling, many squashed by the horrified tradesmen, seeing the end of any more business that day. I brushed them off my clothing, disentangled one clinging voraciously to the back of my ankle, and retreated to my hotel. Never a dull moment!

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Vigan is small enough to walk round comfortably, but as it is one of the few places in the world where the picturesque old horse-drawn carriages count as public transport, and have low, regulated fares of around 5 peso a trip, it would be excessively thrifty not to take advantage of the opportunity. The regulated fares only apply within the city limits, so check costs before heading out into the countryside.

The long distance bus stations are all on the edge of town, with the main ones around the market, which can be very dark and deserted at night. If you arrive late and have no idea where you are, take a calesa or tuk tuk to the centre, just to get your bearings.

El Juliana is a spacious old building, with flagged stones on the ground floor, wide imposing staircase, and huge polished hardwood floorboards over a foot wide in the bedrooms, which would be worth a fortune anywhere outside the Philippines. The building itself is almost completely hidden from outside by high brick walls, with "no brown out" displayed as prominently as the hotel’s name. An enormous wooden gate, with a smaller door cut out of it, makes it feel like a European mediaeval palace, or at least a Spanish parador. The hotel is conveniently situated just on the edge of the historic centre of Vigan, within easy walking distance of anywhere you’d want to go, although it feels more appropriate to draw up to the imposing door in a caleza.

My bedroom was large and spacious too, with noisy but effective air conditioning (the only options are on and off), and satellite TV with the best range of channels from four continents that I’ve ever met. There was even hot water in the en suite shower room. In fact, they are so proud of the hot water that there isn’t any cold water tap at all – make sure you’re well stocked with bottled water unless you enjoy brushing your teeth in hot water. My room overlooked the pool on one side, and a small shared veranda with table and chairs, on the other, but as the curtains are firmly nailed shut I didn’t get any benefit from the view. The furnishings are plain, shabby and clean, and do not do justice to the building.

The main attraction must be the pool, which will cost you, as a resident, 40 peso a day to use, and is also open to outsiders for 50 peso. It seemed very popular with the local youth in the evenings, and at weekends. The restaurant (a large gloomy room) seems to have given up, but they’ll serve you a plate of something hot and savoury in your room for around 50 peso, if you can’t be bothered to go out.

I paid 765 peso ($14) a night for single use of double room, and thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing and pleasant stay.

The antique and souvenir shops are all clustered along Crisologo St, and the old roads which cross it. There are far too many upmarket souvenir shops for the current state of business. It’s as if someone told the inhabitants that now Vigan is a World Heritage Site, there will be hundreds of rich western cultural tourists looking for expensive places to sped their money. I only saw a few things which were definitely old, and their prices were astronomical compared with Manila. Most of the shops had good quality modern reproductions, and were mainly empty. I saw only a couple of westerners, who were gathering information for a Danish tourist guide to the Philippines. But there is good value in the local food, consisting mainly of deep fried delicacies (cockroaches for all I know) in the main square outside the cathedral, and sweets made of coconut and rice. This is what the numerous Filipino tourists go to Vigan for.

Vigan is a World Heritage Site because of the buildings in its old Spanish Colonial centre. To my eyes, these two or three-storey white-washed stone houses were a little disappointing, as the same, and better, can be seen in almost any village in Europe. I preferred the local style wooden houses, which can be seen gently decaying in the villages all along the coasts of north-west Luzon, as well as in Vigan itself. The woodwork is usually weather-worn to a soft grey colour, and round the eaves and windows is often carved. The windows have sliding trellised shutters set with small square panes of capiz shell instead of glass, which makes them look as if they have been whitewashed on the inside, and keeps the rooms cool during the day.

The cathedral is large, old, low-lying, in earthquake baroque style, built to withstand the forces of nature as much as human aggressors. Packed to overflowing on Sundays. There are several museums, in the cathedral, the bishop’s palace (another fine old building), the governor’s palace (ditto), and a couple of old houses. If you regret not being able to view Imelda Marcos’ collection of shoes any longer, there is a fine display belonging to an ex-governor’s wife in the Crisologo Mansion.