A Family Beach at Agdangan

On our way back to Manila, my friend Icor insisted that we must dropped by to their beach location_ somewhere in between Agdangan and Padre Burgos ( in Bondoc Peninsula). We were coming from Catanauan, around 1.2 hours drive away and sure we were dropping by. It was on the way anyway.

Bff (& the clan, 20+ members) spotted the beach in random. The plan was they would follow us to our location but made some changes on the road. They took the right turn to Agdangan and a local had suggested the resort.

It was almost nearing dusk when we arrived and joined them.

The beach resort was humble , clean and had nice sand & sea. Seemed to be a common denominator among beach resorts in this province. Agdangan is the next town after Padre Burgos, entering Bondoc Peninsula from Manila.

The resort suited a big clan like my friend's, with toddlers, teens, parents and grandparents _ the place was just fine for every member.

Water here was calm and safe especially for kids.

Beautiful colors of dusk appeared when the sun set to rest for the day.

Road Trip- Bondoc Peninsula

I'm the girl from Quezon prov who thought after gazillion times of passing the Quezon highways could already sleep the whole trip because I thought I've seen all the roads and towns of my coconut province.

Coming from our recent visit to the farthest town in Quezon from Manila my hometown, we decided to reroute again to Bondoc Peninsula going back to Manila. Take note that from my countless vice-versa trips of Manila-Quezon , this was only a second time. This time, I decided to get on with the trip fully awake and enjoyed the sceneries through the window of our moving vehicle.




Expensive big bikes of hobbyist gentlemen that I was sure not residents of the local town.








Manong surely felt happy, he smiled while I took this photo as we entered the first town of B. Peninsula from Gumaca.




Beautiful century houses turned commercial shops in the town of Agdangan.




We passed by the place of Cong. Suarez, does the name ring a bell? He was attached to the controversial =million pesos dinner treat of Phil. delegation in New York last year with Pres. Macapagal.




The Luminous Cross Sanctuary at Agdangan. We visited it last year. See more of it here




Locals having fun at the road side beach.




With the beautiful Borawan within sight. See more of Borawan here.




Those locals in the beach were so happy to look at, we decided to take a break and took some fresh air.




Random art work took our fancy.....








Must be owned by this resto by the beach, which in itself looked like another work of art.




This was the other resort in Padre Burgos which we didn't see last year. Maybe, we'll try it this year if we could make another visit to Borawan this summer.


To compare this Bondoc Peninsula route to Manila and the Quezon Zigzag-Atimonan route, we figured the latter was a faster way. Yet Bondoc P. way was traffic free. It was like we were the only car in the highway. We felt, we like the zigzag road more still and would take this BP route only during holidays when Quezon highways are loaded with home coming vehicles.

The Luminous Cross of Grace Sanctuary

It was past noon when we passed by the town of Agdangan Quezon. The Luminous Cross of Grace Sanctuary was very visible from all corners of the humble town of Agdangan.












The Sanctuary itself led us to its location. It was our first time to pass by Agdangan on our way to Manila, but we did not have to ask the locals about its location because of its visibility by the road.








When we got in the church, the Sanctuary was a lot overwhelming. It was high noon and the sun was beaming towards the luminous paint of the building.




What was then deemed impossible to build in this poor coastal town of Agdangan in the Bondoc Peninsula, a monstrance-shaped, 37-meter-high sanctuary, called the Luminous Cross of Grace, rises after three years of hope, prayers and thanksgiving for donors and service contributors.

Constructed beside the St. Isidore Parish Church, the prayer tower juts into the sky, a testament to the perseverance and faith of a handful of volunteers who believe they were called on this mission by God.

For the past three years, P20 million has come in the form of donations, from the sale of rosaries, rosary bracelets, Marian portraits, Christmas decors, religious icons and medals. Text brigades, mailed solicitations, Internet-based promotions, even overseas visits have been employed by volunteers to continue work on the prayer tower."_ (from Luminous Cross of Grace website)visit luminouscrossofgrace.com for facts about the sanctuary.




Upon our unplanned visit,two weeks ago, the construction has not fully finished. Because, this was really unplanned and was just led by the last minute suggestion of my friend Raisa to drop by while we were on the way anyway, we were a bit disappointed not to be able to make it inside the cross.




Outside of the fence of the sanctuary posted some rules for the visitors which we were not prepared for. Indicated were  house dress rules. We were wearing shorts and tees which are our usual comfy get up when we travel. Another thing was, the door was already closed as the tour was already in session then. We were like 30 minutes late of the scheduled guided tour.




Nevertheless, we made it to visit its church_ St. Isidore Parish Church. We particularly prayed for my girls' cousin Bianx who was in the hospital then and we just found it through text that very minute. We believe that prayers are always granted upon your first time visit to a certain church.




We looked around the church and found out that this project was supported by the late Pres. Corazon Aquino. There was a framed letter of donation dated March 10, 2008.



 Another framed letter of donation from her daughter Balsy who seemed to be there on the same date Tita Cory visited the place.


When I was taking photos of the Sanctuary outside, my girls reminded me of the posted rules preventing visitors to take photos. I said to my daughters that must be applicable inside the Sanctuary and anyway posting photos of the Luminous Cross of Grace Santuary here in my small blog corner would be our humble contribution.

Prayers for the victims of Ondoy.
God Bless..