LOOK TO THE LIGHT | 2017 URBAN GLADIATOR JAPAN DECEMBER 2015 | OSAKA SEOUL MARCH 2016 | YEOUIDO & NAKSAN BOHOL JULY 2016 | PART 2

Sunday, September 11, 2016

July 2016 Travel Diaries | Bohol Part 2

Our last full day in Bohol began with visiting the Punta Cruz Watch Tower. Other than being a historic spot, it's also where you can see how the great earthquake extended Bohol's land by 50 meters.

The beach in the background used to be deep waters.

You can go down and explore the extended land.

As you can see, it's exactly what the land would look like underwater. The ground is also limestone.

There are shells everywhere and the ground is really craggy so be careful!

There also tons of spots to take beautiful photos.

Next, went to former President Carlos P. Garcia's house.

It's a lot more modern than the ancestral homes we've visited.

Unlike a lot of our current politicians, Carlos P. Garcia was an impressive pillar of Bohol before he became president of the Philippines.

Lots of old plaques and knickknacks.

We then moved on to yet another ancestral home but we didn't get to go in because the person who was supposed to let us in forgot to come.

Just as well, because we've seen so many ancestral homes that I was getting them mixed up in my head. Haha! So our tour ended slightly early so we had a lot of free time when we got back to the resort.

My blockmates plus some friends we made during the trip decided to check out Alona which is a beach-side party area in Bohol modeled after Boracay's beachfront full of bars and party places. The night before, one of our professors in UST incidentally had a project in Bohol at the time so he met with us and drove us around the vicinity. He brought us to Alona and we strolled around for a good hour and we all decided we'd visit again the next day during our free time.

Before heading there though, we stopped by Giuseppe's Pizzeria & Sicilian Roast which was another recommendation by my professor. He claimed this place had the best pizza in Bohol and he was *so* right!! But more on this later.

Gorgeous decor. Reminded me so much of Amoroma in Tagaytay! (Also a great Italian place you can try!)


Onto the food! The pizzas are pretty affordable for less than 500 bucks. Their really big and great for families of four to six per pizza. We first one we ordered was the Pizza Gregorio (440PHP) and I was so surprised at how good it was! Sicilian pizzas have a thicker crust, their fluffy but crisp at the same time! It's topped with some smoked ham, sausages, salami, parma ham, tomato, and mozarella. Not to be mistaken with the pizzas you can have delivered in Manila, Giuseppe's pizzas are nothing short of a revelation. You can clearly taste all the flavors of the toppings but they aren't as flavorful as most commercial pizzas. It isn't "in your face" and the most interesting thing about their pizza is that you can actually taste the fresh tomatoes in their sauce. Coupled with the delicious cheese and meats, it was absolutely fantastic. I still crave for this pizza to this day!

Next was the Don Carmelo (400PHP) and it has tomatoes, mozarella, onion, olives, sausages, eggplant, bell peppers, mushrooms, and carabao cheese. The flavors in this one are a lot more subtle and sort of pales in comparison to the Gregorio, to be honest, but it's still pretty awesome!

Even though a lot of us felt that the pizzas were awesome, I feel that it's possible to dislike the more subtle flavors on Giuseppe's pizzas if you really prefer the usual Pizza Hut or Dominos. I mean, I love these two pizza joints as much as the next guy, but I am absolutely in love with Giuseppe's Sicilian pizzas as well! Everything is just so fresh and well-made. Even the hot sauce is homemade! :)

We then walked the rest of the way to Alona. It took a good 10 minutes to reach the beach. Once you see the Bank of The Philippine Islands, you know you're in the right spot. You then go down the sloping road and pass by a surprising amount of Korean restaurants and marts.

And then suddenly the quiet town becomes a buzzing beach party!

Even in the afternoon, there are so many people! Mostly foreigners.

We actually saw the Fire Dancers when we visited the nice before. It was super cool!

You can also have fresh-caught seafood cooked for you but we didn't try it.

Would love to try the lobster next time, though! :O

Alona is pretty small though so we only stayed until after the sunset with a 50-peso rum and coke! Haha! :)

Afterwards, we went back to the resort and ended the day.

Just before our flight the next morning, we visited the Bohol Bee Farm and had an early lunch.

I'm not sure why there were foreigners learning how to scuba dive here.

Bohol Bee Farm is especially famous for their honey ice cream. More on this later!

Now for our organic lunch!

As an appetizer, they let us try their squash bread with their homemade honey spreads. They sell their honey spreads in different flavors: Malunggay, Mango, Pesto, and Original Honey! The Honey Spreads are so good. They aren't too sweet. They're just buttery and creamy. The Pesto flavor has a subtle garlicky flavor that I love. The Mango and Original Honey makes me think of sweet cheese. Great things to take home.

I got the Grilled Spareribs with Red Rice and a Fresh Veggie Roll. It was pretty good and it was my first time trying Red Rice. Didn't like the rice so much. I feel like Giuseppe's ruined me for life. Haha!

They served our lunch with Lemongrass Tea which was really lovely and refreshing.

Now onto dessert! Was particularly excited for the ice cream. Also love how a lot of the flavors are uniquely Filipino with the Seaweed, Peanut Kisses, Durian, Buko, Jackfruit, Dragon Fruit, and Spicy Ginger! There are also more common flavors if you're into the ones I've just mentioned.

I got myself a combination of Salted Honey and Spicy Ginger for 100PHP. They really really meant it when they said Spicy Ginger! It was sweet but surprisingly spicy too! The Salted Honey on the other hand tasted more like Salted Caramel. But then again, I'm pretty sure that's how Salted Honey is supposed to taste. Towards the end, the Salted Honey gets really salty so watch out for that. The cones they use are actually dried cassava. They taste oddly like potato chips which is possibly why the Salted Honey got even saltier.

At the gift shop, you can take home a lot of the food they serve, including the cassava chips! I loved the Honey Spreads so much that they were the only food that I wanted to take home in this entire trip! Haha! Also because most of the souvenir treats were already available in Manila nowadays anyway. This Honey Spread is definitely a great discovery though!

And this is pretty much where my Cebu-Bohol travel diaries end. As usual, I had so much fun just reliving these moments through blogging and I really hope to go back to Bohol someday! So much great food to come back to :)

10 comments:

  1. How I wish to travel there one day.. This place looks amazing!

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  2. Bohol Bee Farm is a must-visit tourist destination. I highly recommend it to anyone who's planning to go to Bohol. I love the food served in the restaurant inside as well.

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  3. There's so many places to visit in Bohol. I always love to see the beaches with their fine white sand.

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  4. Beautiful landscape indeed. Hope to visit at least once in life!!

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  5. I really like the Bee Farm as well. I did not know about CP Garcia's house being there. Hope to see it next time. The beach scenes with all the touristy activity not really my cup of tea. I prefer a quiet beach environment.

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  6. Looks like a fun filled trip! I am really surprised to see those decorative plates. If I am not wrong they are from Iran as the design and pattern is very Irani. So nice to see that art really has no boundary!

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  7. Me and my friends were just talking about visiting Bohol on December. Place looks lovely!

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  8. I think off all the posts that you had about Cebu and Bohol, this would have to be my favorite. I wouldn't mind touring ancestral houses, they're really lovely but I think I will enjoy eating more, lol. The pizza place sounds amazing and that bee farm is definitely worth going to.

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  9. You are quite well-traveled at young age..Good going! This place is very vibrant.

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  10. Planning to go to Bohol soon! I'm glad everything was restored after the earthquake the almost destroyed everything.

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