May your coffee be strong, and your day be beautiful! Good day, Hives! It's me again, Ace26, your Gwapo (handsome) blogger from the Philippines.
Today I am going to treat my family to roam around here in Cebu so come and join us as we roam around Cebu City.
The first stop is Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu, Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu is The Santo Niño de Cebu is a one-foot-long wooden image of a baby Jesus standing, portrayed as a child king. He holds in his left hand a globe and in his right, a sceptre. He wears a combination of red and gold vestments, a golden crown, and golden boots and has golden gloves on his hands. Most of the precious gems he wears today are donations of devotees and patrons of its Basilica.
Magellan's Cross
Before you enter the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu you will see first the Magellan's Cross Pavilion, Magellan's Cross Pavilion is a stone kiosk in Cebu City, Philippines. The structure is situated on Plaza Sugbo beside the Basilica del Santo Niño, It houses a Christian cross that was planted by explorers of the Spanish expedition of the first circumnavigation of the world, led by Ferdinand Magellan, upon arriving in Cebu in the Philippines on April 21, 1521. (Based on Wikipedia) Some tourists stop over in the pavilion to take off the Magellan's Cross.
Before you enter the Basilica you will go through the police assistant checkpoint which is where they will check your things just for the safety of everyone.
Dress Code
Since the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu is a sacred place for us Filipinos if you going to Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu you should be aware of the outfit you are going to wear.
Wear appropriate clothes just like :
- Long Sleeves
- colored Blouse
- slacks
- Jeans
- dress
Avoid clothes like shorts or anything that is sexy or revealing, but if you just roaming around and want to go inside the Basilica, They will give of a piece of cloth(long scarf) to cover your legs. I think you will going to rent it for 15 or 20 pesos.
Also, there is no Entrance fee and the candle but if you have some spare penny you can donate to the box where the candle is. Since it was also my son's birthday we got some candles so that we could pray for our son's 9th Birthday and thank God.
Inside The Basilica
As you enter the Basilica, you will see plenty of devotees even though there are a lot of people inside the Basilica the place is so peaceful, How this place so peaceful even though it is in the centre of a place where the crowd is so noisy from the sound of the city, vehicle horns and even people shout maybe The sacred Santo Niño has been protected the Place of God so that the devotees can pray peacefully.
Reflexelogy Center
The Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu also offered Reflexology led by the blind people. They will be going to massage your body and they will ask for money any amount that you give them they will accept wholeheartedly.
You can also get some pictorials from our very own traditional photographer, they will take you together with the basilica and sell it to you for 100 pesos so we let him take us a photo for our remembrance since we can't get a nice photo together. we also waited for Tatay to get our photo we waited
for almost 20 minutes.
Then after we got the photo we entered the Basilica since it was my first time exploring the Basilica, I was amazed how at they painted the ceiling they are so beautiful and the structure of the Basilica is so amazing.
Then we go to Santo Niño to pray but before you can get near Santo Niño you have to get in line to be near on Santo Niño sadly phones or taking photos of Santo Niño was prohibited so I didn't get any photos of Santo Niño.
After that, we roamed around the basilica until we ended up at a wishing fountain where the tourist threw some coins and made a wish. So my son asked me for a coin because he wanted to make a wish on the fountain.
Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu still maintains its structures of it from the wall to the window I was amazed how they preserved the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu and not ruining the original Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu.
I carry the spirit of the Santo Niño with me. Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu is a reminder of the importance of faith, the beauty of cultural diversity, and the strength of the human spirit. This trip has left an indelible mark, and I know that a part of me will always remain in this special place.