The Ruins in Talisay

I had the chance to visit The Ruins in Talisay a few weeks ago, when I had to fly to Bacolod for work and my colleagues there were nice enough to squeeze in a little bit of sightseeing for us. I used to go to Bacolod for work around 10 years ago (in a different role), but The Ruins was not yet a destination then.

The story of The Ruins is quite interesting - because it's a really beautifully preserved structure that Don Mariano Lacson, a sugar baron, built in honor of the his wife Maria Braga (who died before she gave birth to their tenth child) where he and his unmarried children lived. The story gets intresting because the guerilla fighters set fire to the mansion just before World War 2 so that it won't be used as headquarters by the Japanese forces. 

The ruins was rehabilitated by Don Mariano's great grandson and was opened to the public in 2008 (so that's why I never heard of it when I used to fly to Bacolod for work before). Please take my version of the story with a grain of salt, since we arrived late for the tour, so I just caught snippets from that and filled in the blanks from different sources online.

They say the best time to visit The Ruins is around sunset, when you can see the reflection of the setting sun on The Ruins, but since we just squeezed in a visit after work - we missed that ideal time by a few minutes, and we arrived just before it got dark. Nevertheless, it was still very beautiful.

Shot in Vivid Mode on the Canon S95

Tourist Mode

The details are beautiful.

The grounds are beautifully landscaped too.

There is a Php95 entrance fee per person to enter the property, but you can explore to your heart's content, and there are free guided tours too to tell you about the history of the place.

The guy in the yellow shirt was the tour guide.

However, we only caught the tail end of this tour.

I think, the only information I got was that the initials
of Mariano and Maria are all over the place.

They even have a glass table on the garden from where you can take pics - to get the same effect as the reflection on water.  

Thanks Lycar for bringing us to The Ruins after a tiring rota day! It was definitely an attraction worth visiting. just saying.


The Ruins 
Directions available from their website
http://www.theruins.com.ph/

Apple Pie meets Cheesecake from Calea in Bacolod

I went to Bacolod for work last week and the main highlight of my trip was our visit to Calea, a place known for their really good cakes. 

I recognize some of Calea's cakes because they are so famous, office mates that visit Bacolod normally bring back goodies for us. At first I thought we were just getting a slice or two to share... but no! They have such a huge assortment, we ended ordering one cake each, then sharing. Hahaha.

Apple Pie Cheesecake, Floating Island, Pecan Pie,
Chocolate Cake with Mocha Filling and brewed coffee to go with it

The Pecan Pie was okay. But I can make better.

The Chocolate Cake was okay too, but their Imported Chocolate Cake,
with Caramel Filling - which was out of stock, was so much better in my opinion.

Meringue, Caramel - Yummy floating island for a change.

But the Apple Pie Cheesecake, this was the best.
Best Apple Pie and Best Cheesecake that I've ever had!

The Apple Pie Cheesecake was so good, I was craving for it the next day. I even bought a whole cake to bring home just to satisfy my craving. I even discovered you don't even need the caramel sauce (wasted calories if you ask me), because it's really good even without it.

Also goes really well with Nespresso. just saying.

Calea Cakes and Pastries
15th street Lacson st.
6100 Bacolod City