ULOG 011: My first wander in Simala Shrine, Sibonga,

August 2018 · 4 min read

_{"The Castle Church or the Monastery of the Holy Eucharist "}

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Howdy mates!

Ever since, Philippines has always been on the people's lists who'd love to travel and explore the world. There are a lot of beaches, resorts, mountain tops, waterfalls, and a lot more that can be found here.

One of the places in the Philippines is called Cebu (where I live). Its rich in beautiful beaches and resorts too but there's one place in cebu that is very remarkable to people.

Yes! The castle church of cebu...

Simala Shrine in Sibonga

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Your visit in cebu wouldnt be perfect if you ain't able to visit Simala, they say. Well, i think that's a bit right. Not just because of the beautiful views, but if you are a Roman Catholic this is indeed the best place for you to pray. This is also where a miraculous Virgin Mary is located.

_{So now, how I wander around the castle church and how it mesmerized me for the very first time.}

Going to Simala from my place is indeed tiring due to a very long land journey thats why i hadn't thought about going to that place ever since. Yes, I just had like 3 long rides in order to get there. Firstly, was riding a jeepney to the terminal, and then rode a bus and lastly my last trip was through a tricycle. It took us almost 5 hours just to get there (im wit my gf's family though).

After riding a tricycle, a short walk was done until reaching the main entrance.

Main entrance

Stairway to the church

Upon entering the gate, there's also a long stairway wt more or less 50 steps that you need to climb in order to reach the church.

From the stairway, I already saw how amazing the church is! Its big, full of greens too, it really looked like a castle.

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Until i reached the first tower and the view became even more fascinating.

The first tower

View below

And as i went closer and closer, everything i saw were really mesmerizing

Closer view

The corridor

Guardian angel statues

And when I looked back it was quite a long hot walk indeed. There were also a lot of people falling in line enduring the heat from the sun just to get inside the church.

Long way to the Shrine

There's also a way down to the lower part of the church where there are a lot of greens and a pond.

Way down to the greens

And after the long line and a bit long walks, at last we were able to get closer to the shrine.

Closer to the entrance of the shrine

When we arrived inside the shrine, everyone was very busy and solemnly praying, some are lighting candles and offered prayers, and some were falling in line in order to kiss and pray to the Miraculous Virgin Mary (Roman Catholics practice).

People solemnly praying

Before falling in line, we lighted some candles and offered a prayer for more blessings to come and thank the Almighty Father for the things he've given to us.

Lighted candles for offered prayers

And then we fell in line in order to see and kiss the Virgin Mary. I wasn't able to take pictures since people were very serious and silent at that time and of course its quite embarrassing lol

So after then, we roamed around and visit the little museum inside the shrine. There were relic models, statues, paintings, and other religious stuff.