Philippines Trip Part 3 : Tagaytay

if you missed part 2, it's here (villa escudero blog)


day 10 - (1/21)

After we left Villa Escudero I took my guests to Tagaytay. A lot of you might be raising your eyebrows by now, lol. So why Tagaytay? It's one of my favorite Manila get-away! For one, because it's very close to Manila, I don't need to fly for a quick get away. Two, because of the weather. It's always nice to get away from the scorching heat of Makati even for just a day or heck, a few hours and enjoy the cold breeze in Tagaytay while sipping bulalo soup at one of the elevated huts in Leslie's. Three, because there's just always something to do in Tagaytay. Like, I always enjoy going to Sonya's garden and/or Antonio's farm and getting a flower soak spa from Nurture's spa. I always enjoy shopping for fruits and buko pie. I have always enjoyed having a hot chocolate at Bag of Beans or have a quickie lunch at Mushroom Burger. And have you tried sipping a Frappuccino sitting by the balcony of Starbucks overlooking the Taal Volcano? Have you tried visiting Calaruega and just sit on one of their benches overlooking rolling fields and blue skies? Have you tried staying overnight at Sonya's Bed and Breakfast and trying their oh-so sumptuous breakfast? Have you tried horse back riding along the Taal River? Have you tried ziplining (this is actually in my To Do list the next time I visit Tagaytay), or have picnic with friends at Picnic Grove and play Charade? Have you discovered those hidden restaurants in Tagaytay like the Chateau Hestia Garden Restaurant (if you want you are in the mood for European cuisine and want to feel as if you are eating in a house in the middle of a vineyard), how about Marcia Adams’ for a Tuscan-isnpired ambience, and a lot more (just go to this site for more: http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2012/06/tagaytay-your-awesome-journey-to-tagaytay-food-trip.html).  And ofcourse, have you tried just sitting in some deck or balcony overlooking the Taal Volcano and just stare at it for hours and hours?

taal volcano

I always enjoy staring at the Taal Volcano. It has a calming effect on me.

calaruega

So no, Tagaytay is NOT overrated. If you tell me it's overrated that means you have never really been to Tagaytay. Tagaytay is not just about Picnic Grove or Palace in the Sky. There's more to Tagaytay. We already know that Tagaytay is famous for the Taal Volcano but have you seen the Taal Volcano during sunset? How about during sunrise?  Although for me, the main highlight of going to Tagaytay is always seeing the Taal Volcano during sunset.


Sorry I got carried away. Hindi naman masyado obvious na I love Tagaytay so much, no? Haha. So we went there for a day trip. We stopped by Calaruega first. I told them it's one of the favorite church's to get married. They like how the chapel looks like and how relaxing the view from the chapel is. They were amazed at the different plants of all sizes and shapes dotting all around the chapel area.

my favorite, Sonyas Garden

Then we went to Sonya's Garden, my favorite restaurant in Tagaytay for lunch. The hubby's favorite food is salad so I really, really have to take him there. They were amused at the place too. I told them the vegetable are really fresh because they grow it there and I guess they never really got to experience having salad that's just recently plucked from the ground. After lunch we went around Sonya's Garden to take pictures of the beds and benches surrounding the area. They find that amusing too. I really wish we had an extra day to stay overnight in Tagaytay because I really would want for us to stay at Sonya's Garden for a night. I've tried staying at Sonya's Garden's Bed and Breakfast and I really really enjoyed it. The window was open the whole time so there's this cold fresh breeze coming in and out of my room. And I already mentioned about their breakfast. Ahh! thinking about it just makes me miss Tagaytay all the more. I'm planning of taking the hubby and staying there for a night when we come back to the Philippines for a visit.

i was hoping to get this for my guests, but it was raining and
they closed this area to prevent accidents
(photo from the sister-in-law)

So after that we drove to the direction of Picnic Grove. My guests asked me if that's a dedicated place

for having picnics and I said yes. I told them it has huts overlooking the Taal Volcano. My sister-in-law was kinda amused by that I guess. Unfortunately, it started raining and it's kinda a long walk from the parking lot to the entrance and it's cloudy so we won't be able to see anything anyway, so we just skipped it. We then went to Leslie's Restaurant. The hubby really want to sit by the elevated huts overlooking the Taal Volcano but it was raining so they have to close that area to avoid accidents. We were a bit disappointed but Leslie's gave us a table that has the closest view of the Taal Volcano. We weren't able to see much because of the fog (or clouds?) but once in a while the sky would clear up and we could see the Taal Volcano. I ordered for them. So I ordered sisig (I didn't tell them what it is, I just said it's pork, lol) and ofcourse the Bulalo. We didn't order much because we are all still full from our Sonya's Garden lunch. They seem to enjoy the food, specially the Bulalo. My only complain is the bulalo wasn't hot enough.

buko pie

After eating (which seems like what we always do, lol) we decided to call it a day and drove back to Makati. But we did stop by at Collette's to buy a buko pie and other sweets. I didn't like the buko pie I got and tasted like it only has a few minutes left before it goes bad so I had to chuck it. The rest of the sweets though is alright. The sister-in-law bought the pastillas and she seemed to like it. I LOVE pastillas! Well, I love sweets in general, so no surprise there, lol.

When we got back to Makati we checked-in at New World Hotel this time because I like the idea of having them just cross the street and the mall and restaurants are all right there. It's not Ascott but close. But we didn't like our stay at New World. The hubby was annoyed by their customer service. He asked for an extra soap because there's just one tiny soap on the sink and  none in the shower and the operator said their policy is  one soap per room. Really? We paid $160 per room per night and they dare skimp on soap? Wow. Eto pa. We asked for a bell hopper or just those luggage cart because we need to move our huge luggage to St. Illian's Inn for storage before we leave for El Nido, but the operator said they can't provide us that unless we're checking out. Ano daw?!!! Eh we paid for all our rooms already and our check out time is not until the following morning. Operator said for security reason. Again, what?!! If they're worried we'll steal their lamps or what-nots they have our credit cards. Ang labo. Anyway, we ended up taking our luggages one by one outside the hotel to our van so we could transfer our luggages that night to the other hotel where we'll store our luggage while we're in El Nido. We were doing this a few times back and forth because we have several huge luggages but none of the Security Personnel asked us any questions like if we are checking out already or why we're taking our bags out which made us wonder, so what is this Security ek-eks that this Operator is talking about again? Kaimbyerna. Not staying at New World again.

to be continued... Corrigidor up next...