Last rainy Tuesday afternoon, D and I drove to Intramuros, the “walled city of Manila”. Our destination: Fort Santiago. This is the citadel built by the Spanish Governor Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1593. It is a famous historic site, as this was where our Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, was imprisoned prior to his execution in 1896. Recently, it had been reopened and tourists are starting to visit it once again. We parked near the Manila Cathedral. En route to Fort Santiago we passed by the Palacio del Gobernador. Luckily, there were only a handful of visitors when we got there.
Here are photos taken from my first ever visit to Fort Santiago.
Manila Cathedral and Palacio del Gobernador nearby 
Fort Santiago gate, originally built in 1714 
Balluartillo de San Francisco Javier 
Postigo de la Nuestra Senora de Soledad 
The White Cross was the one that I’ll remember most. After the World War II, 600 bodies found in the nearby dungeons were buried en masse under the cross. As I read its history, I spent a few minutes of silence for the fallen.
We explored the place in less than two hours. Before we headed back home we checked out the newly reopened souvenir shop, Tesoro’s. They have a dining area and we treated ourselves with Filipino snacks: a big bag of biscocho, and sago’t gulaman.
Living Free and Making a Difference 
what an awesome place to visit! Lovely pics too! So glad you’re getting out and about!
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Thanks Andy. Finally got to visit. I don’t know why I haven’t thought of going here after all these years.
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I wish to visit it again someday when we can come back to Pinas! My UNI is also there in Intramuros. I do miss it too.
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Hopefully you can visit again soon! Thank you for dropping by.
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Will do today sorry I am not often here in WP but in YT mainly though I am now. C U soon on both medias thanks!
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I miss this place. Spent many hours of my childhood in this place as my father worked for the National Park Development Committee who oversees the care of these parks, including Luneta and Fort Santiago.
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You are lucky you got to spend a lot of your time here when you were young. I am glad the city is maintaining these historical places.
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