March 9, 2014
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| View from our room (evening) |
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| View from our room (early morning) |
We purchased a Deal Grocer voucher worth 3200php for an overnight stay at Paseo de Escolta's Deluxe Studio Room for 2.
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| My makeshift map |
My travel buddy and I were just in time for the 8am Bataan Transit Bus to Balanga, Bataan. Bus fare is at 200php/pax. We arrived at Balanga by 10:30am. You may refer to my makeshift map on how to get to the bus/jeep terminal going to Bagac. Jeep fare is 47php/pax. Please refer to this
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| Las Casas gate from the inside |
link for the map from Balanga to Bagac. Travel time is approximately 40minutes. We had no idea where to get down so we did when we encountered the fork on the road, only to find a sign not too far off the road(about a meter??) that Las Casas is 500m away. So being the thrifty people that we are, we decided to walk until we got to the Las Casas gate. Upon Entrance to the gate, you'll be instructed to proceed at the Reception area (Casa Mexico).
And so we had to walk for another 3-5 minutes to finally arrive at the reception. The moment you stepped inside that gate, it's like you've just entered another era.
Please be reminded that check in is strictly at 2pm. Since food and drinks are not allowed, we decided to take our lunch at Casa Ubisan - a restaurant that serves Filipino-Spanish dishes. Much to our dismay, there were no tables available so we were advised to try the Italian restaurant - which would take us another 3-5 minutes of walking under the scorching heat with our backpacks.
At the Italian Restaurant
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Some kind of olive oil-vinegar
dip for the bread |
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| The complementary loaf |
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Not the Margherita pizza
I expected - 300+php |
We ordered a 13" 8-slice Margherita pizza and Beef Lasagna which cost us 700+. A complimentary loaf of bread will be served while waiting for the orders. It was crusty outside and soft inside. I would've liked it better if it was warm and served with butter.
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| Beef Lasagna - 300+php |
When the Margherita Pizza arrived, I was a bit disappointed. It was like an ordinary cheese pizza. I was expecting to see basil leaves in there. To divert my disappointment to something positive, I liked the wooden pizza slice server - which is surprisingly, available for sale at their souvenir shop at Paseo de Escolta. Meanwhile, the lasagna was small. It was good for 1 hungry person (that's me!). Good thing the pizza was good for 4 not-so-hungry people, so I was able to eat my share of 4 slices and a half of my lasagna. It was enough to get me through to dinner time. It was also enough to provide me energy for the 1:30pm heritage tour.
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Paseo de Escolta (left)
Casa Luna (right) |
The Heritage Tour
I'd like to thank our tour guide - Ms. Mica - for being patient in answering our questions. She was also our tour guide during the Workshop Tour (more on this later). Joining the Heritage Tour was worthwhile. Besides, you don't just go to Las Casas without wanting to know the history of the houses right? In addition, there wasn't much activity here so might as well learn something. At almost 3pm, our tour ended and we proceeded to check out our room and get ready for the Workshop Tour.
Our Room
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| Sitting area |
The room was bigger than a condo studio unit. No wonder it was priced as such. I wished for white lights because only yellow lights were in the room and it was too dim for my liking. Little did I know that they also wanted to have the candlelight/gas lamp effect for the living-in-the-past experience. At least they still installed air conditioning units inside the rooms. I loved the spacious bathroom and the clothesline near the shower. I loved the smell of their soap. They also provided us with cotton buds and a set of toothbrush. I also loved the fact that they also installed a hair dryer inside the bathroom. I just wished that they also included a bubble soap solution so that we could use the bathtub. Overall, I loved the room. Oh I forgot to take a shot of the bathroom's door. It was a carved door and it looked nice.
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| Comfy bed |
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| Spacious bathroom |
The Workshop Tour
Workshop tours are conducted at 9am, 11am and 3:30pm. This includes the Brick workshop, Woodworks workshop and the Art workshop. We joined the 3:30pm tour. It was too bad that the Art workshop closed up early. I wished they provided a simple hands-on activity for us during this tour, like wood carving stuff. Anyway, bricks take too long to make and wood carvings take a lot of work. Kudos to the workers. Too bad I forgot to take a photo of the furnace for cooking bricks, I assumed that it was prohibited.
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After the workshop tour, we decided to have a look around the stores that can be found at Paseo de Escolta. We inquired at Fotographia de Escolta and found out that they were about to close and they would be closed the next day. A 15minute photoshoot with you wearing a traditional Filipino costume inclusive of a customized flash drive and a 5r photo printed in sepia costs 1080php/pax. The customized flash drive is made of wood and has a special case. It's nice as souvenir. It was not available in the souvenir shop so we decided to have that photoshoot.
After the photoshoot, we went at Casa Ubisa to pre-order our dinner. After that, we rested in our room a bit and had that nice warm shower to wash away the day's sweat.
Our Dinner
We ordered Sinigang na Tanigue - 500+php and Pork Binagoongan - 299php and a couple of rice - 34php a cup. But with the big serving, we ordered another cup. We loved the dishes and we slept with a full tummy. We took out the leftovers for breakfast the next day.
