Cebu City
The Oldest City In The Philippines, Where Magellan Planted A Cross In 1521 And Was Killed Six Weeks Later A Few Kilometres Away · Cebu City, Cebu
CEBU IS THE OLDEST CITY IN THE COUNTRY AND IT HOLDS BOTH ENDS OF THE SAME STORY. IN 1521 MAGELLAN LANDED, PLANTED A CROSS AND BAPTISED THE LOCAL RULER AND HIS WIFE; SIX WEEKS LATER HE WAS KILLED AT MACTAN, A FEW KILOMETRES ACROSS THE WATER, BY LAPULAPU - and modern Cebu commemorates both men, in the same city, without much apparent difficulty. MAGELLAN'S CROSS STANDS IN A SMALL PAVILION; THE BASILICA DEL SANTO NINO NEXT DOOR HOLDS THE IMAGE GIVEN TO THE RULER'S WIFE IN 1521, the oldest Christian relic in the Philippines, and the devotion around it is enormous and entirely serious. SINULOG, IN THE THIRD WEEK OF JANUARY, IS ONE OF THE LARGEST FESTIVALS IN ASIA. Be honest about the rest: the historic core is small, hot and traffic-choked, and most visitors use Cebu as an airport. It is worth a day, not a week. Walk the core before ten, when it is still bearable, and watch the devotion at the basilica rather than the building - the Santo Nino is not a museum piece and Fridays prove it.
Cebu City, Cebu, Central Visayas, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
CEBU HAS THE COUNTRY'S SECOND-BUSIEST AIRPORT, on MACTAN ISLAND, with international and domestic flights and a bridge into the city; ferries connect to Bohol, Negros, Leyte and beyond. THE HISTORIC CORE - MAGELLAN'S CROSS, THE BASILICA AND FORT SAN PEDRO - IS COMPACT AND WALKABLE and sits close to Colon Street and Carbon Market. MAGELLAN'S CROSS IS OPEN AND FREE; THE BASILICA IS AN ACTIVE CHURCH with heavy devotional traffic and MASSES THROUGHOUT THE DAY, especially FRIDAYS; FORT SAN PEDRO charges a modest fee and keeps daytime hours. SINULOG, IN THE THIRD WEEK OF JANUARY, SHUTS THE CITY DOWN - accommodation books out months ahead and the streets are impassable. TRAFFIC IS SEVERE AT ALL TIMES. Walk the core early; it is hot and shadeless by ten.