The Basilica during the Sinulog Week
During Sinulog week I found it the safest and the best time to go to two famous tourist spots in Cebu. These are Basilica del Sto. Niño and The Magellan’s Cross.
Basilica del Sto. Niño
The Basilica del Sto. Niño was founded on April 28, 1565 and was made merely with wood, nipa and earth. Later on it was constructed with hard stone as ordered by the Governor of Cebu in 1735: Fernando Valdés y Tamon.
Devotees inside the church
Now the church is a popular site for devotees and tourists alike as they gather around to worship the miraculous Sto. Niño or the Holy Child. The highlight of the year in terms of visits is the Feast of the Sto. Niño which celebrates the Sinulog.
Outside the majestic Basilica
Personally when I go there I have that sense of peace and awe as I feel together with hundreds of other people their strong devotion to the Holy Child.
Magellan’s Cross
The Magellan's cross
The Magellan’s cross was erected when the Spanish explorers led by Ferdinand Magellan arrived on the shores of Cebu on April 21, 1521.
The cross symbolized the spread of Christianity to our country. This is actually housed beside the Basilica del Sto. Niño and is no longer visible to the people. What we can actually see is the protective covering on the original cross to prevent the people and devotees from chipping of pieces to serve as Holy artifiacts.
You may chance upon one of those dancing ladies in yellow and they will ask for your name and dance for you while praying for you. They will give you candles which you can light up and offer but they come with a price.
You can light candles here for free
But if you want to offer candles for free there is this small area with rows of candle holders where you can offer short candles for free. If your generous heart permits then you can donate a small amount.
The Holy Child
Viva Pit Senyor
A photoblogger in his twenties, Johnn’s advocacy is to share photos to the world. He loves freediving, birding, reading, eating, travelling and meeting new people. He is usually game for anything new and interesting. You can follow him on Twitter: @Photoblogger
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I scheduled myself to visit Cebu last year, for some reason it was cancelled.
Hope I can visit this place this year. Thanks for this very informative post.
woot! do tell me if you visit Cebu. Hopefully if my schedule allows then i can help you tour around
Hi Photoblogger, its sad that I browsed only your very informative blog as I will be leaving Cebu this Friday afternoon. Ive been here since Feb 14, its a work related assignment. Hope to see you around. Btw, I am planning in my next visit to do a cebu-bohol-camiguin or perhaps siquijor…as there’s a great chance that I will be back in May =).
@Erwin thank you for browsing through my blog. I do hope you were able to enjoy your stay here since Feb 14. There’s still so much to see, feel free to email if you have any questions about Cebu, but I can’t promise that I can answer all of them