The Mestizo District offers a wonderful glimpse into the Philippines’ colonial past. The ancestral houses were mostly built by Chinese traders using a mixture of local, Asian and Spanish architectural styles. The Mestizo district is some of the visible tourist spots in the city of Vigan, Philippines. It offers a wonderful glimpse into the Philippines’ colonial past. A majestic place [...]

A kalesa or calesa (sometimes called a karitela) is a horse drawn carriage used in the Philippines. The word, also spelled calesa, predates the Spanish conquest and descends ultimately from an Old Church Slavonic word meaning “wheels.” When the kalesa was introduced in the 18th century during the Spanish colonial period, it became one of the modes of transportation in [...]

A fun throwback to colonial days is the calesa horse-drawn carriages that still clip-clop through Vigan’s streets. Rates for calesa rides should be the same as those for the many tricycles (P8-P10 within the city limits) that will undoubtedly by vying for your custom. But you could also hire a private calesa for around Php150 per hour. The Mestizo District [...]

Vigan is in Northern Luzon. Its Spanish colonial influence in local architecture and old-world charm make it a unique city in the Philippines. It is a World Heritage Site it is one of numerous Hispanic towns in the Philippines, and is well-known for its cobblestone streets, and a unique architecture that fuses Philippine building design, and construction with colonial European [...]