Bohol 2016: Tourist Spots ~ Part 1

Bohol is one of those family friendly tourist destinations.  This is because other than relaxing at the beach shores of Panglao Island, Bohol offers various tourist spots that you may visit to learn about history and marvel on God’s wonderful creations.

Our itinerary when we visited Bohol last March was to spend a day on city tour.  I searched online for recommendations of van-for-hire contacts and found Kuya Tatsky.  We initially wanted to do-it-ourselves-commute, but realized that since we have a little boy with us, it wouldn’t be very practical – and good thing we did not do it.  Public transport while touring would take up too much time and effort.

Kuya Tatsky gave us Php2,100 rate for a whole day city tour using a sedan.  He told us that the car is at our disposal wherever tourist attraction we wanted to visit.  Ric-Ric, the driver assigned to us, fetched us at Bohol Divers Resort at exactly 8AM (this was the time suggested by Kuya Tatsky to maximize our Bohol City Tour). 

Here are the different tourist attractions we went to:

Bohol Bee Farm – No entrance fee but there’s a tour fee of Php30 per person.  The tour will show you different organic plants they grow at Bohol Bee Farm and of course, bees.  Bohol Bee Farm sells a lot of souvenir items and pasalubongs at a higher price than other areas. The only practical pasalubong you would buy here are the different kinds of honey.  You can also try their different ice cream flavors; but be warned that not all are yummy hehe J

Bees… 

Hinagdanan Cave – Entrance fee: Php50.  It’s a small cave with a small deep body of water inside.  You can swim and take wonderful pictures while perspiring too much since the inside of the cave is too hot.  Just be careful because the area is slippery.

Dauis Church – No entrance fee; the church is still being renovated.  This church has a wonderful ceiling.  I think it’s hand-painted, and would let you think that 3D art exists even before 1800s.

Embossed ceiling?  No, it’s just paintings.

Blood Compact [Old Site] – No entrance fee.  This is the old site of Blood Compact and it has better view and better statues.  This used to be the “Blood Compact” site, where Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna made a pact.  They call this the fake site because around 10 years ago, they found the correct site.  Buy your pasalubongs in the store near this site because its way cheaper than the other selling areas.

Baclayon Church – Entrance fee for Museum: Php50.  Baclayon Church is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines, and the oldest coral stone church in the region.  The earthquake last 2013 damaged the church, but it is now being restored.  Restoration is taking time as it is being overseen by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.  They had to make sure that every small detail is just like before the quake damaged it.  If you are not a fan of church memorabilia, you can opt not to visit the church museum. 

Bohol Wildlife Park – Entrance Fee: Php30.  Bohol Wildlife Park is the home of Prony before he died.  Prony is the biggest python in captivity here in the Philippines.  He weighs more than 300 kilos.  They preserved Prony’s bones and skin, so you can still see the remains.  They are also trying to raise a new python in Prony’s image – that is overfeeding it hahaha :D

Prony’s skin and bones and future Prony.

Blood Compact [Real Site] – No entrance fee.  This real site of Blood Compact was only confirmed some 10 years ago, when Legazpi’s diary was found and it indicated that the Blood Compact site is beside a well between two rivers.  That area is the only site beside a well between two rivers.  Thus, the history of the two Blood Compact sites.

Part 2 will be the continuation of the city tourist attractions we went to at Bohol.

Bohol 2016: The Itinerary

Bohol 2016: Panglao Island

Bohol 2016: Bohol Divers Resort

Bohol 2016: Tourist Spots ~ Part 2

Bohol 2016: Marcelina's Guest House