According to ITYPEMBA, Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is located in the northeast of Luzon on the coast of Manila Bay. The capital of the Philippines is a complex conglomerate, which includes up to 17 satellite cities, in which about 10 million people live.
In the capital, you will be offered many excursions that will tell you about the history of this city and its environs.
Among the interesting places and sights of Manila, one should note the Rizal Historical Park, the ancient city of Intramorus, built by the Spaniards (it houses the Church of St. Augustine and the National Museum). It is also recommended to visit Chinatown, where you can buy gold and pearl items.
One hour drive through scenic countryside from Manila offers a beautiful view of the Taal Volcano, which is known for being the smallest volcano in the world. In the Church of San Jose in Las Piñas (a suburb of Manila) you can see a unique organ whose pipes are made of bamboo.
You can also take a canoe trip along the Pagsankhan River, during which you will enjoy the beauties of virgin nature.
In addition, there are a number of interesting museums in Manila . Among these are the Santo Tomas Museum, containing exhibits on natural history and archeology; National Museum, including sections on anthropology, botany, geology, zoology and art. It is best to start a tour of the capital of the Philippines from the fort Santiago, which is easily accessible by taxi from the Ermita area (the “tourist zone” where most hotels are concentrated). Opposite Fort Santiago rises the Manila Cathedral, built in the Romanesque style from Filipino adobe bricks. During the Second World War, the city was almost completely destroyed. After the most severe American bombing in 1945, only the Cathedral of St. Augustine and the museum miraculously survived. So you can visit the main historical street of Calle Real. The building of the monastery-museum adjoins the Cathedral of St. Augustine, where objects of material culture and works of ecclesiastical art of the Philippines are carefully stored. Nearby is the complex of reconstructed buildings Plaza San Luis, which houses galleries of ancient art, restaurants, cafes, as well as the Casa Manila Museum, dedicated to the life of the local aristocracy. While in Manila, you can visit the Japanese and Chinese gardens and the city planetarium.
Separately, you need to pay attention to the unusual area of Ermita, located near Rizal Park and Manila Bay. There are many different hotels, eateries, night restaurants, open-air beer gardens, fashion shops, antique shops, stalls with handicrafts and rarities. Visitors to Ermita should visit the bookstore on the padre – Fauna Street and Cultural Center of the Philippines. In the Philippine village of Nayong Pilipino – an open-air exhibition, where all types of village buildings are presented in miniature, reflecting the ethno-cultural characteristics of various parts of the archipelago. The Philippine Ethnographic Museum is also located here, the exposition of which introduces a variety of products of the arts and crafts of local ethnic minorities.
The Makati area is the financial center of Manila. The only attraction in this area is the Ayala Museum.
Eat in Manila its own “Manhattan” – the business and financial center of the city, its own “Montmartre” (Mabini Street), where artistic bohemia lives, its own “Soho” – portside “streets of sin”. More than a million Chinese live in the Chinese region with their own traditions, customs, and way of life. The facades of the local houses are hung with all kinds of advertising: Chinatown trades, crafts, entertains, heals, predicts fate. People often come here from “European Manila” to ride a phaeton and taste authentic Chinese cuisine.
The business part of Manila, in contrast to the Hispanized quarters and streets in Intramorus, is planned in a completely different way. From the mouth of the Pasigo River to the south stretch small straight streets that go to the 13 modern piers of the South Port and are intersected by wide avenues.
Formally, since 1948, the capital of the Philippine Republic has been the satellite city of Kaesong City, founded before the Second World War on the initiative of President M. Kason, who dreamed of a “city without slums.” Now government buildings, foreign embassies, offices of foreign companies, commercial banks and insurance companies have been moved to Kaesong City. Manila has an unusual mode of transport, which, perhaps, you will not find anywhere else. After the Second World War, the Americans intended to drown their jeeps in the ocean, but then they sold them to the Filipinos – for $ 200 per car. And now colorfully painted jeeps, converted to transport passengers into fixed-route taxis, drive through the streets of Manila. and other Philippine cities. The fare in them is low, and therefore they never stand idle.
Manila is a shopping paradise. Almost all well-known trade brands are represented here at prices significantly lower than European ones. The Makati area is full of all kinds of shopping centers where you can spend more than one day. And almost every metro station has a shopping center.
