If you’re coming from Santa Cruz making your way to Calle Escolta, you can never miss the sight of these two buildings that will welcome you to this historic street from the foot of the bridge crossing the Estero de la Reina. Sharing some common architectural features and a heritage of an American colonial past, these buildings were, and still are, the prominent addresses to be in this historic street. Today, we shall check out these twin sentinels and learn more about them in this entry.
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The “Roma” in Intramuros
While it is true that Intramuros is known as the “Little Vatican” because of the presence before of 7 churches in the Walled City and the fact that it is until now the seat of Roman Catholicism in Manila, and perhaps the country as well, this entry would not be about any of these churches. The “Roma” here would refer to the plaza, Plaza Roma, considered to be the “plaza mayor” or the main plaza of the city in the olden times.
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A model market for the metropolis
Wet markets, especially many that are found in the Philippines, are typically characterized as cramped, disorganized, crowded, sometimes unsanitary places that few do not usually go to as a tourist spot except if you need to buy certain pasalubong (take-home) items that are only found there. Thus, it is a fresh breath of air to see a public market place such as the Marikina Public Market area also known as the Marikina Market Mall, purported to be the cleanest wet market in the metropolis, not to mention one of the biggest as well in terms of area.
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Manila’s “Maharnilad” : the Manila City Hall
Despite the rise of more modern, taller “city halls” with more modern amenities, especially the city halls of some of the cities in the metropolis, there is this certain appeal and charm whenever one sees the city hall building of Manila. Maybe it’s partly because it is the city hall of the nation’s capital city. Maybe it’s because of its classic architecture that it has been able to maintain. Whatever the case may be, the Manila City Hall is itself an iconic structure that has managed to become the symbol of the city it represents, something that not all local government office buildings have managed to achieve. The city hall…