After lunch at Laoag City (Ilocos Norte), we continued on our way to Bauang (La Union) but decided to make a stopover at Vigan City and do some sightseeing and souvenir shopping along Mena Crisologo Street. This cobblestoned street is lined with a number of shops selling antiques and more recent novelties such as abel handicrafts, miniature furniture, fans and white and colored T-shirts. Aside from some abel wall hangings and some T-shirts, we bought some decorative burnay pots.
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| Mena Crisologo Street |
The street also has a number of Spanish-era structures. Vigan, recently included in the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List, has 220 Spanish-era structures, 156 of which are old houses. Many of the old homes of Vigan’s elite, documented by the Vigan Historical Society, were built in the 1850s by Chinese taipans during the profitable indigo trade. Built in various styles (Spanish, Mexican or Chinese), all have thick brick and stone lower walls with imposing wide arch doorways, piedra china, grand staircases, wooden upper floors with massive, polished narra floors, high ceilings and sliding capiz windows with ventanillas, red tile roofs, balconies with ornate metal grillework overlooking the street and cool azoteas (tiled patio) in the rear.
