Philippines 2010 Fort Santiago

A random picture of a nice building.

yes, here we are at Fort Santiago after that squuuueeeezzziiingggg train ride. And we only have 10 minutes at this garden.

Horse having form forming around it’s mouth. Blinded on both sides, this tame animal is now dedicated to pull carriages all its life.

The garden is nicely kept. Garbage free, plants trimmed and…. empty.

Fort Santiago.

One of the oldest fortifications in Manila. built in 1571, on the site of the native settlement of Raja Soliman. First fort was a palisaded structure of logs and earth. Destroyed in the Limahong attack in 1574.

Stone fort built between 1589 and 1592. Damaged in the 1645 earthquake.

Repaired and strengthened from 1658 to 1663.

Became the headquarters of the British occupation army from 1762 to 1764. Repaired and renovated in 1778.

Former headquarters of the Philippine division of the U.S.Army. Occupied by the Japanese military in 1942 where hundreds of civilians and guerillas were imprisoned, tortured and executed.

Destroyed in the Battle of Manila in 1945.

Used as a depot of the U.S. Transportation Corps before turnover to the Philippine Government in 1946. Declared Shrine of Freedom in 1950. Restoration and maintainance of the fort began in 1951 under the National park Development Committee. management was turned over to the Intramuros Adminitration in 1992.

This is a dungeon.

Yup, happy escapees from the working/studying world. Here we are in Manila!

The Dungeons.

The dungeons used to be storage vaults and powder magazine of the Baluarte de Santa Barbara. Because of dampness caused by the humid weather and the nearness of the vaults to the Pasig River, the Spaniards decided to build a new powder magazine on top of the baluarte in 1715.

The vaults were converted into prison cells and storerooms when the Casa del Castellano (Fort Commander’s residence) was built in 1718.

On the way back. Now this gets interesting… we missed our flight!

The meal above is taken at the bus station in which was Plan B when we missed our flight. Instead of a 1 hour flight, the bus took 8 hours to get to Vigan, our next destination and my next post.

The funny thing is, I like the bus ride :D Caught up on a lot of movies on the iPod. Held it at a position so long my arms became stiff. Quite an adventure.