Welcome once again Steemians to my travel adventure. Before I have posted here my travel blog at Batanes, and now let's go somewhere in Visayas, and this time let me take you to a place also known as the Heart of the Philippines — Marinduque.
Marinduque is an island province in the Philippines located in MIMAROPA (Southwestern Tagalog Region), formerly designated as Region IV-B.
Boac is the capital of Marinduque and it's a town not a city. Marinduque lies between Tayabas Bay to the north and Sibuyan Sea to the south.
I went to travel here years ago when I worked as a field service engineer, when I went to their respective hospitals to install an ultrasound machine where I am specialized with.
Marinduque lies west of the Bondoc Peninsula of Quezon province, east of Mindoro Island, and north of Romblon.
There are some parts of the Verde Island Passage, a center for world's marine biodiversity and protected marine area, which are also found within the provincial waters of Marinduque.
To reach Marinduque, you need to buy a ticket and take a ferryboat ride at Dalahican Port at Lucena, Quezon Province. You will arrive at Balanacan Port at Mogpog, a third class municipality of Marinduque for a travel time of 2.5-3 hours.
Upon arriving at their port, you will see a huge statue of Virgin Mary, which captivates the eyes of tourists upon seeing this for the first time.
After I finished my assigned job on the hospitals I've went through, I pampered myself with some little tour within their capital town Boac.
I took some pictures inside their town. On these pictures below are the rural life of people and their peaceful abode.
This is their provincial hall and it looks like a capitol in Roman architecture. The facade looks majestic and the whole structure looks classical, just like in Renaissance era.
On this photo below is their covered court or gym where they held their festival or any events.
The province of Marinduque was ranked number 1 by the Philippine National Police and Philippine Security Forces as the Most Peaceful Province of the Country on year 2013 due to its low crime rate statistics alternately ranking with the province of Batanes yearly. That's why Marinduque is also famous for its sobriquet Peace Paradise of the Philippines.
Furthermore, for almost 200 years, the province is also home to one of the oldest religious festivals of the country, the Moriones which is celebrated annually every Holy Week.
I also went to their museum and tried to learn from their past by watching their archived antiques inside — their history, the unearthed relics, and the ancestors who dwelt before them.
According to a legend, the island of Marinduque was formed as a consequence of a tragic love affair between two people: Mariin and Gatduke.
On these photos below are the life-size Moriones knights.
The "Moriones" are men and women in costumes and masks that replicates the garb of biblical Roman soldiers as interpreted by local folks.
The Moriones or Moryonan tradition has already inspired the creation of other festivals in the Philippines where cultural practices or folk history is turned into street festivals.
The participants use morion masks to depict the Roman soldiers and Syrian mercenaries within the story of the Passion of the Christ. The mask was named after the 16th and 17th century Morion helmet.
I was very happy for this once in a lifetime experience when I went from this one of the most peaceful islands in my home country. I was truly mesmerized by the nature and beauty my country has to offer. Indeed my country has lots of fun to venture with.
If I can turn back time, I wish I can be there for much longer time to explore more the entire island, but still happy enough to have that wonderful experience I've got.
Hope you will love my travel blog fellow Steemians, 
NOTE: All these photos were originally captured via my old phone which was already uploaded to my Facebook account.
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