World Cruise 2013: Day 63 - Manila, Philippines

World Cruise 2013

March 9, 2013

Today the ship arrived in Manila, Philippines. Like the stop in Puerto Princesa, Philippines we were greeted by on shore entertainment as we arrived. Manila is the capital of the Philippines and one of the cities that make up the greater metropolitan area of Metro Manila. During WW II, much of the city was destroyed and it was not until 1975 that the metropolis thrived as an important cultural and economic center. Today, Metro Manila with 8 million people is one of the largest cities in the world.

I took a tour called “Best of Manila: Past & Present”. We drove thru the Makate area, the financial and commercial center of Manila and our first stop was at the American Memorial Cemetery, which is the largest outside the continental USA. Names of the service men killed. The site in 152 acres with 17,097 headstones and was dedicated December 8, 1960. At the site is the “Wall of Missing” with 36,286 name engraved in the wall. We had lunch at Legarda House (La Cocina de Tita Moning) on San Rafael Street formerly one of the city’s most elegant streets. The lunch was a traditional Filipino lunch. In the afternoon we visited Rizal Park, where the remains of the country’s national hers, Dr. Jose Rizal, lie within the Riza Monument. We also visited Fort Santiago which served as headquarter of the military might of the Spanish, American and Japanese colonist until it destruction in 1945, two museums, San Agustin Church, which is the oldest structure in the Philippines, some shopping, a reconstructed 19^th century mansion and other city sites.

After 8 hours we got back to the ship and we had a high school band play for us until we left the shore at 6 PM.

The Capitan wanted to leave the port at 8 PM because of some fireworks and because some people were on a tour that did not get back until after 6 PM, but the port did not approve so we left the port and waited in the harbor until the people on the late tour could join the ship by tender and for everyone to see the fireworks.

Below are some pictures taken from the ship and on my tour.