Cebu - A Fusion of Everything

Plantation Bay, Mactan, Cebu

How could I best describe my Cebu trip? Traffic. Educational. Historical. Gastronomically satisfying. Relaxing. In my three day stay there, I have visited three cities - Cebu City, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City. I have shared to you interesting places in my previous posts and now it is time to wrap things up.

Cebu is truly an amazing City. It is called Queen City of the South because it offers almost everything a place could offer. It is truly a fusion of everything - of cultures, of modern and old, of people and interests.

The downside however is the traffic. As in any modern City, traffic is really heavy in Cebu. It took us around two hours from the Mactan Airport to our hotel in Cebu. And a city tour of almost 4 hours took us nearly 6 hours to finish. But then again, you just have to make the most of the traffic situation and be amazed of the landscapes and progress of the City.

The three cities that I have visited offers something different. Cebu City is famous for its historical places such as Magellan's Cross, Heritage of Cebu, Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, Fort San Pedro and Taoist temple. Mandaue City, on the other hand, is famous for making handcrafted guitars, fashion accessories and furnitures. Lapu-lapu City is well known because of Mactan Island and of course the Lapu-lapu monument.

Connecting Mandaue City from Lapu-lapu City are the Multi-Million Marcelo Fernan Bridge (shown below) and the older Cebu-Mactan Bridge.


A Cebu tourist will have plenty of things to do here. With its highly urbanized metropolitan atmosphere in the City proper and a tropical, relaxing ambiance in the beach fronts - Cebu truly is a tourists delight. As a sample of mixed views, you just cant help but relax at the sight of the beautiful man-made beach and pools at the Plantation Bay on the three photos above and yet be mesmerized by the ingenuity in the photo of a building in Regency Crown Suites where there is an upside down car in its facade.

And don't let me get started on the food. Cebu is famous for its "Su To Kil". It means Sugba, Tuwa and Kilawin. (Inihaw, Tinola and Sinukaan in Tagalog). We had a dinner at one of the famous Su To Kil Restaurants in Lapu-lapu City (No Problem Restaurant) where you can order your fresh sea-foods and they will cook it the way you like them to be cooked. Ang Sarap.

What else? Of course the pasalubong. Cebu is famous for its danggit and pusit that can be bought in its local market and even at the airport. They are packed in vacuum sealed plastics so that the arid smell would not fill the air. The of course there are the world famous dried mangoes and native biscuits and other delicacies.

So there. The urban cities of Cebu. I highly recommend the place but when I do get back, I'll try and visit the other parts of Cebu such as the Moalboal, Bantayan and Badian.