Intramuros
The Spanish Walled City Of Manila, Destroyed In The Battle Of 1945 With One Church Left Standing And Rebuilt Around The Absence · Manila, Metro Manila
INTRAMUROS WAS THE SPANISH CITY - founded 1571, walled, with churches, a university, palaces and a garrison inside and everyone else outside. IN FEBRUARY AND MARCH 1945 THE BATTLE OF MANILA DESTROYED IT. Manila was among the most comprehensively devastated cities of the Second World War, civilian deaths are usually estimated at around a hundred thousand, and the worst of it happened inside these walls. OF EVERYTHING THAT STOOD HERE, SAN AGUSTIN CHURCH SURVIVED - one building - and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right. WHAT YOU WALK THROUGH NOW IS LARGELY RECONSTRUCTION, AND THAT IS THE POINT RATHER THAN A DISAPPOINTMENT. FORT SANTIAGO HELD JOSE RIZAL BEFORE HIS EXECUTION IN 1896 and his last footsteps are set into the ground in brass. It is a small district and it is one of the heaviest places in Southeast Asia. Take a guided tour here - what is missing needs explaining and the stones will not do it.
Intramuros, Manila, Metro Manila, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines
INTRAMUROS IS IN CENTRAL MANILA, walkable from the LRT at Central Terminal and a short ride from most of the city. THE STREETS AND THE WALLS ARE OPEN AND FREE. FORT SANTIAGO, CASA MANILA AND THE MUSEUMS keep daytime hours with modest fees and SEVERAL CLOSE ON MONDAYS. SAN AGUSTIN CHURCH IS AN ACTIVE CHURCH with a separate museum; MASSES AND WEDDINGS INTERRUPT VISITING and Saturdays are heavy with weddings. GUIDED WALKING TOURS run daily and are genuinely worth taking here, because the absence of what was destroyed needs explaining. BAMBIKE BAMBOO BICYCLE TOURS are the other way round. IT IS HOT AND FLAT; walk early or after four. MANILA TRAFFIC IS SEVERE - do not plan tight connections. Petty theft is a real consideration around the fringes.