Casa Manila

One of the houses inside Plaza San Luis Complex inside Intramuros, Manila is Casa Manila.




The house museum  showcases a life style of the Illustrados - the rich Filipinos during the 19th-20th century, who were given almost equal privileges as the Spaniards who ruled our country then.

It has a beautiful courtyard which presently is a popular choice for wedding reception venue and other events. 

The house is huge and now a days it could easily be mistaken as a hotel. But during the 19th-20th century, it was just but a typical home of an Illustrado family. Inside are authentic antique furniture of the said era.

It was a Monday ( photos taken in 2010 ). The museum was close. Cousins were very insistent. I suggested we used the exit stairs to enter the house.

A guardia civil ( guard in character of Spanish soldier ) suddenly appeared by the kitchen window and stopped us from entering the premises. haha. 

Oh well, have you noticed?_ I knew quite well my way in here? Hold tight cos I'm going to reveal to you one of my secrets...

I used to reside in this house.. eerie? haha. It's me! 16 years ago! Relief?.. that I didn't say hundred years ago? haha.

Fact is : I was assigned there for couple of months when I was an employee of Dept. of Tourism. How's that?  Yes my dear, yours truly was once a bonafide government employee ( for a long time actually). 

Now, I'm not going to just give you a peek of the museum but also of my shameless vintage photos, taken pre-digital years, haha.

A blast in the past!

Right here ( daughter & me photo) my older daughter was only 3 years old.

 There was a period that I didn't have a nanny so I had to sneak her in and brought her to work everyday. Haay, the story of my working mom life. Now, this girl is turning 19 next month. Can you believe it?

Yes, I had to sport sets of authentic Filipina dresses of 19th-20th century as daily uniforms.

If you're going to visit the museum these days, the included exhibit of the 19th-20th centuries Filipino dresses during my time, is ofcourse not there anymore. It was just a season exhibit which was also why we were assigned there for a certain period only.

I actually attempted to give you a short tour of the house and wanted to share something about the specific parts shown on the old photos. Mind you, we memorized a scripted 5 pages tour of the museum and had them recited everyday for every visitor/group , countless times a day.
So here, after 16 years, approaching (if not there yet, in denial?) old age, I couldn't grasp a word . I couldn't even remember the parts of the room.

I just hope the vintage photos somehow gave you a glimpse of what's inside, and hey  Casa Manila museum is just there in Intramuros , in case you haven't been there and keen on a heritage tour.

Visita Iglesia 2011

We are now in the middle of Lent Season/ Holy Week. The peak would be on Holy Friday which traditionally Catholic church commemorates Jesus' death by special masses, way of the cross, processions and many do their "visita iglesia" on the eve of this day. Churches welcome churchgoers and basically open their doors til' dawn before Black Saturday. I, however, personally haven't done a single visita iglesia in my not-so-religious life which in our lay man term means church hopping.
I do, however, always make sure to visit first the town church everytime I get to land in a new place. I flipped over my archives and realized I had only posted less than 5 church blogs against the countless number of church I've visited . This is because taking photos is not a respectable thing to do inside a church. Thus prevented me to feature the beautiful churches around our predominantly Catholic country.
For quite sometime (about 1/2 year), recent photos I took of San Agustin Church and Manila Cathedral have been sitting on my files. As mentioned, I'm not comfortable taking photos inside a holy church, so the following images are mostly church facades but grandiose just the same.

So for Ascertain Bliss' visita iglesia 2011 let's take a glance of San Agustin Church. I'm sure many of us have attended a wedding held in this famous historical church in one time or another. Known as the oldest church still standing in the Philippines, built in the late 15th century, this church is found inside the equally historic Intramuros, Manila.

I know you think what I thought. . the facade doesn't look any old. With the bright paint and all, but history recalls how many times this church had been damaged by earthquakes, looted by different forces, destroyed by fire and war and had undergone rebuilding countless times.

There was a wedding ceremony being held when we dropped by at San Agustin. We dared not to go further inside cos obviously in our jeans and shorts that we were not part of the entourage/guests.




For those who haven't been inside this grand church, I borrow a photo and above is how fab the inside is. Now you know why this is a favorite wedding church of the Filipinos.

On the side note, the church contains the tomb of Spanish conquerors like Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (sounds history book familiar, right?), he is the founder of city of Manila. Their bones are buried in a communal vault near the main altar. One of the lay persons whose remains are housed within this church is our history book famous painter_ Juan Luna.








I actually have a big thing for old intricate church doors so here I grabbed a photo of San Agustin main door. I have lots of photos of this door I took many years ago and some lately. But they are lost now in my crowded files.

Now we hop to Manila Cathedral which is located walking distance to San Agustin church inside Intramuros Manila.




Another wedding church favorite, this church is like the queen of Catholic churches in the country in terms of grandeur and popularity.

Again, there was a wedding ceremony going on that prevented us to go inside.I did , however, attended in the past , wedding ceremony masses here of my relatives and friends, even been part of the entourage more than once.




Borrowed this image from the church website, for those who haven't been inside.

I told you I have a thing for old intricate doors. .




This church got intensely intricate carved wood doors, so grand!!!








When it comes to architecture, I'd say Manila Cathedral comes a winner.




Ooops... I know. . .I'm running away from the spiritual essence of visita iglesia. I just want really to introduce to you the churches then it's up to you now. I'm not even sure if these two grand churches are open for visita iglesia. Atleast, we all had a glimpse of them even only virtually spiritual.

Hey, if you want to continue visita iglesia ala Ascertain Bliss, I got more church post here :

The Dome of the Apostles
The Luminous Sanctuary
The Church of Lucban
The Penafrancia Basilica Minore

God Bless us all.

Plaza San Luis

Let's indulge in a small historical city tour. Inside Intramuros, Manila, one of the interesting places to visit is Plaza San Luis Complex.




A feel of Spanish era conveyed right upon at the entrance of the complex with the guard in ensemble worn by a guardia civil during the said era.

Plaza San Luis is named after one of the old barrios of old Intramuros, this is a cultural-cum-commercial complex currently composed of five houses - Casa Manila, Casa Urdaneta, Casa Blanca, Los Hidalgos and El Hogar Filipino. You would find a museum, a restaurant , a cafe, a hotel, events venue, a souvenir shop inside this villa while being transported to an era of the Illustrado , the privileged class of the 19th century to early 20th century. Enjoy taking a peek of the lifestyle an Illustrado ruled from authentic replicas of the structures during the Spanish colonial era.

the hotel

the gift /souvenir shop - The Papier Tole. see here




And this pretty coutyard is actually part of Casa Manila. see here.

Paper Tole

 In the midst of  busy heavy heart days, I found light weight surprises at the Papier Tole Shop. A shop chockablock with colorful paper art creations and many pretty others.

The shop was being manned by a staff who was also a paper tole random artist himself. On his table I saw folded papers, about to emerge as another art creations.

Snap facts on paper tole :
Paper tole, also known as three-dimensional decoupage, is the art of handcrafting three-dimensional pictures from flat prints. Paper tole art is created by skillfully cutting, shaping, and assembling pieces of paper layered onto an image until a three-dimensional version of the image emerges. Though paper tole is an art form that stems from decoupage, a paper craft that originated sometime in the 18th century involving cut pieces of paper shellacked onto wooden furniture and other objects, paper tole has reemerged over the years in several different forms. While framed prints are most popular, people often employ the techniques of paper tole when creating handmade greeting cards and other paper 
crafts. 

Others thu' not paper tole tickled the same effect on me. God is  so good_ He created us to create something, for others to get by and get inspired.

112th Independence Day

Happy 112th Independence Day, my beloved Philippines !
To our heroes who paid lives for the present freedom of which our generation is benefiting , our praises of gratitude. The historical ruins all over the country would always remind us of the saga you went through just to be able to claim and serve the rightful independence.
















I am proud to be a Filipino because I am a descendant of a mettlesome lineage.. .of brave warriors and gifted artist tribe .

glittered map of the Philippines on t-shirts

I'm proud to be Pinoy cos I Ascertain Bliss !