Exploring Bacolod City

Bacolod City is one of my favorite cities. I've been there twice and if COVID-19 didn't happen, we would have visited the city for the third time. We cancelled our flight last minute because we were afraid that our flight back to Cebu might get cancelled as community quarantines were already imposed in some parts of the Philippines. Turned out it was a good decision.

This was when we visited Bacolod for the second time. We explored the city and we felt there's so much to explore we had to visit again. When travels are allowed again, Bacolod City will definitely be in my list.

Find out the three places in the city that we visited the morning before our trip back here in Cebu.

The Papal Tower is located in the site where Pope John Paul II delivered a message to almost a million people during his pastoral visit in Bacolod on February 20, 1981. As a pilgrimage site, it embodies and perpetuates the ideas, life, advocacies, commitment and holiness of Pope John Paul II – an ardent promoter of the culture of life and the culture of love.

The first few floors of the tower serves as a museum that houses memorabilia of the late pope's visit. Some of these are commemorative coins, table napkin, spoon, fork, his chair, and many others. The top of the tower serves as a viewing deck that has a commanding view of Bacolod City. On the east is the mountain range of Negros Occidental and on the west is the sea facing Guimaras Island and Iloilo City.

I'm not really a religious person nor I am Catholic, but it's good to know some parts of our his and to physically visit the site where it happened is an experience. It serves as a reminder of how devoted Filipinos are when it comes to religious faith and how it was engrained with the culture. It was donated by a private individual, a prominent businessman of Bacolod City.

You haven't been to Bacolod if you won't visit Bongbong's Piaya and Barquillos. Its famous delicacies are perfect for pasalubong or gifts to your loved ones after roaming around Bacolod. Bongbong's Piaya and Barquillos has a souvenir store or pasalubong center in Rizal St. corner San Juan St., Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. They also have an outlet at SM City Bacolod Southwing and other snack bars and pastry shop across Bacolod.

After taking those photos, I ended up spending Php 1,000.00 as my pasalubong to my family and workmates. I ended up bringing this one box of goodies while walking along Lacson St., but it was all fun knowing that I will definitely make my family happy with those gifts.

Lacson Street is one of the major streets in Bacolod City. It is where most of the city's festivals are held like the Masskara Festival. A lot of restaurants and major establishments are located in this street.

In our case, we decided to explore the street after buying pasalubong from Bongbong's. One of the interesting part of this street is the vibrant street art. I wrote about street here in Cebu two years ago so just for your information, I love street arts. They might be unconventional and borderline vandalism, but they reflect a certain vibe in a city. What I love about street art in Bacolod City is that they're not discouraged. I even heard from my friend who is from Bacolod that they have events to celebrate street art in the city. So, as some would do restaurant hopping in Lacson Street, we were there to hunt for their street art.

Kim Ybañez

_{Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession, but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits secluded destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines) and the rest of the world even if he's still a poor corporate slave with tons of bills to pay and two siblings to support in college.}

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