What is more fun,tiring and exciting on weekend than spending it with the whole family going for a one-day excursion to the South (149.6 kilometers away from home) and taking stops at the heart of the city!
Half of the excursion was full of fun and excitement, while the other half was our legs and back hurting because of the approximately 8-hour long drive! Haha! Nonetheless, we had so much fun and were able to do things and our purpose despite our limited schedule!
Our excursion just this weekend was for our advance birthday celebration for our father. It was part of the family's tradition to visit the Shrine of Simala once a year. However, since the start of the Pandemic, we set aside our traditions for our safety. But now that everything is back to normal we push to continue our visit and set the schedule for the trip to the nearest weekend to our father's birthday.
Here's our wonderful weekend experience.😍
The ride and the lovely sunrise.
Sunday. We left home as early as 3:30 AM to avoid heavy traffic in the city. We live in the Northern part of the province, so going South, we will pass through the city's center (a 2-and-a-half-hour ride from home), then from Metro Cebu, that's another 2 hours going to our destination, Lindogon, Simala. We went there with our kids so we were 15 in all. The jeepney was so full! The ride is long so we prepared and brought food good for our breakfast, lunch, and some snacks.
Just as we passed the SRP (South Road Property) Road, the sun was gently rising. I'd say we are lucky to witness the sunrise in this part of the city exit. We saw the sun's slow and graceful rise in the open sea of Cebu and above the newly built majestic bridge CCLEX.
It was so early that no other vehicles were passing on the road, so we had the entire sunrise show only for us! Moments like this are rare to witness in Cebu City and I never thought it would be that peaceful, healthy, and beautiful to look at.
Our ride went smoothly and passed the city without being stuck in traffic.
Lindogon, Simala Shrine - Our main destination.
We arrived at the shrine quarter before 8'oclock, 15 minutes earlier before the gate opened, but there was already a crowd at the entrance gate. We hurriedly fixed ourselves and brought the things we needed, the umbrella, the fan, and the water. Our father joined the line of the crowd and we just waited at the side. We couldn't join the crowd because of the kids.
The shrine is always full of people and devotees coming from different places every Sunday. As soon as the shrine opened its gate at 8, it was immediately filled with a crowd. We lined up and waited for our turn to reach the Shrine. We stayed there for an hour and offered our prayers and thanksgiving.
Two years had passed since we last visited the place, and the place has improved a lot. It has extended and built more infrastructure. Amidst the construction and growth of the shrine, the place has remained holy and beautiful. If you are a first-timer in the place, you might think upon seeing that you are looking at a Disney Palace because of the Palace-like architectural design of the shrine.
We left the shrine at around 11 o'clock and head to the city. Our next destination is SM Seaside- the largest mall in Cebu City and the fourth largest in the whole Philippines.
SKY PARK of the SM seaside.
After our serious moment, and long ride to the South, it's time to stop someplace where we can chill and relax, more so the kids will enjoy. So we decided to drop by SM Seaside Cebu for the kids to enjoy and for us adults to cool our bodies and relax our butts too. Hehe.
The sky park.
By the time we got to the mall, we directly brought the kids to sky park.
Sky park SM is an open space, a wide colorful playground with beautiful landscapes of plants that are located on the third floor of SM Seaside. In the park, kids can enjoy and play with the facilities of the park.
On top also, one can see the beautiful view of the mountains of Cebu City and its sea. The beautiful scenery gives you a countryside vibe and lets you forget that you are in the heart of the city!
Beautiful view of the clouds and mountains.
There are also restaurants beside sky park, so it's easy to grab some drinks and food if the kids got hungry.
The Surprise gift for father.
Meanwhile, while the kids were enjoying themselves in the park, I went down and accompanied my father to have his new pair of eyeglasses at EO Eye Clinic. He wanted to upgrade his eyeglasses and requested to have his new eyeglasses at the EO Clinic.
This is the clinic he often sees on Television. He liked the advertisement for this clinic so much and wanted to have his new pair of eyeglasses there! We told him, we don't have an EO clinic in the province, and that the clinic can only be found in the city. And this was one of the reasons why we dropped by SM Seaside.
A moment later, we tour around the mall to find some interesting spots for the kids to enjoy. It's lovely to see and feel the spirit of Christmas around the mall.
We ended up in this giant Christmas tree where my baby was super amazed because of its size. Seeing her reaction made me think of buying one for our home.
After exploring the mall, and having our father's new eyeglasses, we agreed to leave and head home since its already 3:30 pm at that time. We left the mall with our purpose done and we were able to chill and relax, most importantly the kids were able to enjoy their first-time visit to the largest mall in Cebu City.
We arrived home around 7-8pm. (I wasn't able to check the time because I was too tired.)🥱
That was the end of our 1-day Excursion from North to South and back home, an 8 hour drive from North to South. Tiring, yet very fulfilling.
THANKS FOR READING GUYS. HAVE A BLAST.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK AHEAD!