Revisiting Vigan's Nostalgia and Cuisine, Day 1

Revisiting Vigan's Nostalgia and Cuisine, Day 1. My regular visit to Vigan whenever I am on my home leave from overseas includes visiting relatives and rediscovering my childhood home’s splendour and cuisine. Going home to Vigan always rekindle old childhood memories and a time to satisfy cravings for authentic Ilocano food that are part of my childhood. My last visit was very tight which was timed on the weekend so that the whole family can come. We left Manila in the late hours of Friday night and back by Sunday night. The night trips to and from Vigan have reduced the travel time to about six to seven hours against the 12 to 14 hours on a day trip. The itinerary of places to visit were limited to places around Vigan and the adjacent town of Bantay.

Inside the Vigan Cathedral

We left Manila by 10:00PM there was occasional rain along the way and we were caught up on heavy traffic at EDSA , we however still manage to arrive Vigan by 6:00AM in time for the morning mass at Vigan Cathedral. After the mass we headed to my sister’s house for a typical Ilocano breakfast and of course visited relatives which the family have never seen for more than a year. The places on our first day of our itinerary are located adjacent to the Barangay where our relatives are so it was logical to first visit those places.

Pagburnayan; A potter at work

First place, Pagburnayan, the earthenware jar making factory in Vigan. Burnay is an Ilocano name for big handmade earthenware jars use by the Ilocanos to ferment bagoong (fish bagoong), to age sukang iloko (sugarcane vinegar) and basi (red wine from sugarcane). It is known that these Ilocano products would not taste as good if not processed on burnay jars.

Unbaked Miniture Earthen Jars

Next place, Mindoro Beach, the beach is the nearest beach from Vigan. It is a community beach where locals would go for swim on special occasions, on Holy Week and the Ilocano a day after funeral tradition to wash away bad spell called Golgol (hair shampoo from a preferred mixture of burned rice straw ashes and oil). The beach has a fine grey sand with moderate waves and would sometimes become strong.

Mindoro Beach in Barangay Mindoro

Lunch at Hidden Garden in Barangay Bulala. If you are going to Vigan you should not miss Hiden Garden, it is a restaurant in a beautiful garden. Aside from its superb food offering their menu which include authentic Ilocano dishes, the garden restaurant offers a large landscape to roam around and take photos while waiting for your order.

Hidden Garden in Barangay Bulala

Hidden Garden Restaurant

Collection of Bonzai Plants at Hidden Garden

Vigan Empanada at Hidden Garden

Dinengdeng with Inihaw na Tilapia

Lomo Lomo

Warek Warek

Bagnet Sisig

Poqui Poqui

My Vigan Home, after a lunch feast of Ilocano food at Hidden Garden we checked in at My Vigan Home a hotel located a block away from Crisologo Street.

My Vigan Home Hotel

My Vigan Home Lounge

Street View from My Vigan Home

Most of the afternoon was spent strolling Calle Crisologo, Plaza Burgos, Plaza Zalcedo , enjoy a cup of coffee at Coffeebreak Vigan and enjoy empanada and ukoy under the Vigan Cathedral Bell Tower.