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| Penafrancia Basilica Minore |
April 9, 2009
After
weeks of planning, finally! Started the day very early. Left Manila at
3AM, gased up at Petron SSHwy and early breakfast for an hour.
Finally
off a little past 4AM. Original plan of catching sunrise at Atimonan
coastline was scrapped because we left Manila an hour late. By 5AM we
were already in Sariaya with almost all vacationers on the road.
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| Atimonan - a great view for sunrise, but we were too late |
Passed
the towns of Lucena, Pagbilao..stopped at Atimonan coastline for some
photos..then Plaridel and Gumaca. By the time we reached Gumaca it was
already 8am. So breakfast again (since our next stop will be Naga
already for late lunch).
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| Cathedral of San Diego de Alcala |
After breakfast, we started our Visita
Iglesia---at Gumaca's Cathedral of San Diego de Alcala. A rustic,
centuries old church with beautiful ceiling. "Its first establishment
was in 1582, on its present site. It was transferred to Silangan in the
island of Alabat in 1638. It was burned by the Dutch forces in 1665;
reconstructed and beautified in 1846. It is known as the biggest and
oldest Catholic Church in the province of Quezon. It is located in Brgy.
San Diego Poblacion near the Municipal Government office (from
wikipedia)".
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| Altar of Gumaca Church |
By 10am, we were off to Naga...passed Lopez,
Calauag...the arc welcoming one to Bicol...and here the very rough road
begins up to Tagkawayan and some portions of Camarines Sur.
The
whole Quirino Highway is under construction and some portions have
damaged cemented roads...so extra caution is advised otherwise, you will
end up "flying" or with a blown tire. If you plan to take this route,
be ready with 1 peso coins to give to kids/adults dotting this road
directing motorists since most roads are one way...and I mean there's a
lot of them!
One more thing, gas up at Tagkawayan because that is the last decent gas station all the way to Naga.
