Naga City in Camarines Sur has many things to be proud of. Naga City is the center of trade and commerce in Bicol with it's strategic location as being in the Heart of the Bicol Peninsula hence referred to as the Queen of Bicol. It is considered as the Third Oldest Royal City in the Philippines after Cebu and Manila.
It is also called as the Pilgrim City because it is home to the largest Marian Pilgrimage in Asia, the Our Lady of Peñafrancia. Since I am passionate about old churches, of course, Naga City didn't fail to amaze me. I was able to go to many
old churches to add to my growing collection.
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| Our Lady of Peñafrancia Shrine |
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| Naga Metropolitan Cathedral |
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| Peñafrancia Basilica Minore |
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| San Francisco Church |
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| Carmelite Church and Monastery |
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| Immaculate Conception Church |
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| Porta Mariae |
Naga City is also considered as Southern Luzon's educational center due to its prestigious academic performances in schools. It is home to the oldest normal schools for girls in Asia - the Unibersidad de Santa Isabel, the first university south of Luzon - University of Nueva Caceres and the largest catholic school in the Bicol Region - Ateneo de Naga University.
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| Ateneo de Naga University |
After providing an accounting system and staff training for a local non profit organization in the City of Naga, we went around town to see what Naga can offer. We ate at the night market, experienced night life in Magsaysay Avenue (dined at Bob Marlin Restaurant), went to old churches, visited my friend's Alma Mater - the Ateneo de Naga University, dropped by the Camsur Wakeboarding Center (CWC) and since Naga City is now synonymous with the good Jesse Robredo we made it a point to visit his grave. By the way, we stayed at Nagaland Hotel.
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| Camsur Wakeboarding Center |
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| Camsur Wakeboarding Center |
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| Jesse Robredo |
On our way home, we dropped by the famous Aling Cely's Kinalasan and had her famous kinalas and baduya for breakfast. Kinalas are noodle soup dishes served Bicol style with a topping of what looked like a Pansit Palabok sauce and the meaty dark soup made from boiling a cow or pig's head. There is also a Kinalas Festival celebrated yearly on its Charter Day. Our tummy was happy, we were happy and we happily threw P5 and P10 coins to the road warriors at the Bitukang Manok in Atimonan, Quezon.
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| Baduya and Kinalas |
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| With the owner, Aling Cely |
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| Bitukang Manok in Maharlika Highway |
After a brief three day pleasure and business trip to Naga City, what comes to my mind is a city where modernity and knowledge meets culture, arts, religion and tradition.
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