Part 6 of a series
DAY 2
At the middle of the afternoon, we were still faraway from our next stopover, The Heritage City of Vigan.
By 3:13pm, we passed by the town of San Esteban, Ilocos Sur.
The Northern Luzon Loop is one of the most scenic, if not the most scenic roadways in the Philippines. In the two photos above, the South China Sea can be seen from the northern end of San Esteban, Ilocos Sur.
At 3:16pm, we reached the boundary arch that welcomed us to the next town, Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur. It was only then that I learned that the town was home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site! It was not in our itinerary but I insisted that we visit the said site or we’ll miss half of our lives, haha!
We had to ask for directions before we found the Santa Maria Church. And at 3:19pm, we finally found the world-renowned church. Although located in the town proper, the Church was practically in the middle of nowhere so we had quite a difficult time locating it.
The Church of Santa Maria, dedicated to Our Lady of Assumption is perched on top of a hill. As they say, no pain, no gain. You’ll have to climb about 85 steps made of granite before you reach the beautiful church, which is one of the four baroque churches in the Philippines inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. “Their unique architectural style is a reinterpretation of European Baroque by Chinese and Philippine craftsmen” – UNESCO
According to legends, before the Church of Santa Maria was built on its present site, the Virgin Mary was enshrined in a distant place, Bulala. It usually happened that the Virgin Mary disappeared from her place of enthronement only to be found perched on a guava tree that grew where the present chapel of the Santa Maria Church is located. This story was believed by many people which had led them to build the church on its present site. The church was built in 1810 by the locals under the supervision of the Augustinian friars.
Unfortunately, we were not able to go inside the church since it was closed during our visit. For that, we only spent a few minutes at the Church complex. Not having been able to go inside the church is more than enough to justify a future visit. Weee!
