The Spanish were here

The main tourist sites in Cebu revolve around a common theme – The Spanish coming and the Spanish going. [This is not Wikipedia nor Encyclopedia Britanica, so historical facts contained herein very well might be wrong. But this is what I picked up along the way.]

Magellan’s cross marks the spot where he claimed Cebu and the Philippines for Spain. A beautiful wooden huge cross is protected by a small pagoda with a fresco ceiling, think Sistine Chapel, smaller, with native Filipinos and Spanish looking priests, rendered by artists of less talent than Michelangelo. Legend tells that the cross grows every year, so that the ceiling must be moved higher and higher.

Next to the cross, stage right, enter the Church where the patron saint of Cebu, el Santo Nino, is enshrined. Magellan gave the Santo Nino to the then Chief, who become King Charles. The church itself is small but beautifully adorned with hand carved pews and doors of native dark wood. The stone of the building is a white, graying stone that might be blocks of old coral. The shrine of the Santo Nino is visible from the Church, but patrons queue up on the outside to give their blessings and offer prayers. Just outside the church for larger masses, a marble plaza stretches, with a dias ending its expansion.


The Spanish protected its Cebuano holdings from Fort San Pedro, featuring views of the Church, the Cross and the ocean. The Regional Museum occupies a portion of the Fort now.

Filipinos said goodbye to the Spanish on Mactan Island, at the site of the Battle of Mactan. Chief Lapu Lapu (actually from Borneo) was invited by the Chief of Cebu to his ally and kick out the Spanish. And that he did. In an epic battle that is re-enacted every year using professional film stars from Manila, Chief Lapu Lapu kick Spanish butt all over the swampy mangroves. Lapu Lapu is so revered, he even has the best fish in the Philippines named after him. It is quite tasty.