Mactan Shrine

We landed at Mactan Airport (Cebu) at 5:30am and had 4 hours to kill while waiting for another cousin coming from Davao at 9:30 am. It was raining but we didn't take the earliest flight just to sit still inside the airport. We actually planned to check a bit around Mactan_ rain or shine!   

We took a multi cab (P7each) outside the departure area of the airport, then hailed a taxi at the first stop away from the airport vicinity.We got to our first destination for a minimal P75 taxi fare.

The rain stop pouring when we arrived at the Mactan Shrine. It was our first time here. I've been to other historical sites here in Cebu but always Lapulapu Shrine was missed.

It was so early, the park was quietly empty. All establishments inside/around the park were still close. There was no entrance fee, just a donation box greeted us right after the entrance gate.

We passed by this  old monument without any hint what was this all about. It reads Glorias Espanolas.

One other side reads the name of A. Hernando De Magallanes.

Cuzin' Che started to get bored with this Sibika thingy and was blurting out that she was not amused by the unassuming park.

Until we saw the historical marker of Lapu-lapu and Magellan's 1521 face to face spot. It was a back to back stone marker commemorating all there were in our Philippine History 101 of  Lapu-lapu and Magellan. From here on, we kinda had the feel of the historical site and awaken our makabayan (patriotism) hearts  which are shamefully often asleep.

The highlight ofcourse was the Lapu-lapu bronze statue. We found him standing handsome and mighty at the far end of the park, facing the low tide sea. Sure I saw a lot of other statues of  Lapulapu (being the first true Filipino hero) around our country, but what made this one truly endearing was the authenticity of the location.

I imagined some scenes from my Phil. History_ Magellan and his big ship on this sea and Lapu-lapu's tribe in this soil. . . <*abrupt cut of the scene*>. .

We saw some colorful wooden mask statues at the nearby side of Lapu-lapu's statue. Similar to Ati-atihan figures we see during Sto, Nino festival.

We also found this locked House of Gloria (former President Gloria Macapagal) which purpose we failed to gather.

It was locked so I just took a peek-shot of the inside through the glass door. It had living room and bed room. There was also a portrait photo of the former president.

There were lots of this pretty flower scattered around the floor of the park. Cuzin' thought they were some kind of  sea creatures like sea urchin. I had to point to her the siblings of this flower still blooming on the tree above us.

 The rain went back and this time was quite strong. We decided to run to the souvenir shops (already open at this point) inside the park and check their stuffs while waiting for the rain to stop.




T-shirt, accessories, ornaments and so many others could be bought from these shops. I found these shops  pretty reasonable in price compared  to other tourist destination shops around the country.




We ended the visit with a tap on the shoulder to Lapu-lapu_ gud job hero! Numerous Lapulapu busts were planted around the park.