On our first day in Cebu, we go around places where most tourist visits. Upon arrival to Cebu City, we checked-in our baggage at Roseate Pension House and take a short rest, unpack our things and took our lunch at Abuhan Dos.

Our tour started at Magellan’s Cross as our first stop, we took a taxi cab from Abuhan to Magellan’s Cross which cost us no more than 50 pesos. The Magellan’s Cross is located beside an old catholic church, when you see the cross, you won’t believe that its actually not that big as seen on post cards. Set up the tripod and took some pictures, since the chapel is so small, its very difficult to take the traditional “post-card” shot, you will need a very wide lens and set the camera near the ground. We then spend a couple of minutes walking around the area and took some “street-type” photos.

We proceed to our second stop, Fort Santiago on foot, it is about 15minute walk, when we arrive we’re sweating like pigs so its better if you ride a cab or jeepney and just ask for directions. Fort Santiago, is also smallish compared to Intramuros in Manila, its walls are around 3-storey high and is overlooking the Malacanang of Cebu.

Next stop is Cathedral, since we’re not sure how to get there; we just took a taxi cab again. The façade of the cathedral is under renovation, when we get there so we just come inside to look, its walls and ceilings are adorned with paintings and give you a sense of a huge open space.

For our next destination, we have to hire a taxi which we contacted before to take us to Taoist temple, and Tops. It’s advised that you book a taxi in advance, unless you can speak Cebuano or you may be charged more as the Taoist temple and Tops are located on the hills overlooking Cebu City, public transport is very limited. We took a short stop at the Cebu Provincial Capitol and took photos of its beautiful white marble façade.

We arrive at Taoist temple, about 45minutes later, the place is privately owned and strict rules must be followed. I was not allowed to use my tripod inside the temple, and still up to now, clueless, why they didn’t allow it. Long plight of stairs are connecting the Taoist structures inside the temple, it is full of statues of dragons, demons and other figures that we don’t really care about.

At 5 o’clock we proceed to TOPS, the highest point in Cebu City. It is popular for tourist and couples, also a very good place to celebrate a wedding ceremony, one is actually scheduled when we were there. As soon as we arrived, the low lying clouds started to cover the area, you can’t barely see anything more than 5 meters away. The sun already set, and still no view of the city, by this time we’re so tired we just rest at one of the benches. We actually had a great time, in TOPS, and its really a romantic place to spend time together. Took some pictures, and we watched some of the people preparing for the wedding. When the skies cleared up, its already dark, and you’ll see the glowing city beneath, lines of light formed by the street lamps, and from there you can see the entirety of Cebu City, and the view stretches up to Mactan straight and Mactan Island.

Our taxi took us back to Cebu city and we and the night with a sumptuous dinner at Casa Verde. From there we just walk back to Roseate Pension, tired and need to wake up very early the next day. We decided to call it the day and retire to our bed.