It was almost 11AM when we left Luneta for Intramuros as we continue our walk in reminiscing Rizal’s last footsteps. Sure enough, Intramuros is just a walk away from the park…but beware of crossing Padre Burgos Street though…big trucks and cars rush over the road…just wait for the pedestrian crossing light to turn green, ok? In anyways, it was just a short walk entering Puerta Real and Revellin de Real de Bagumbayan…the Royal Gates of the medieval Manila that was.

Intramuros in a glimpse was THE Manila of the Spanish colonial era. The Spaniards live here amidst the protection of its walls and fully-armed cannoned baluartes from the foreigners or extranjeros such as piratas, Moros, Briton, Neerlandes, Portugues and most especially Chinos infiel. Built from Rajah Matanda’s old wooden palisade community called Maynilad, the settlement grew to be the colony’s center of governance. It survived all the way until World War II when it was heavily damaged during “The Liberation” in 1945 which was also the venue for hundreds of thousands slain by the Japanese imperial troops in the wake of the American forces “liberating” Manila. Three decades later, it was restored and now managed by the Intramuros Administration under the Office of the Philippine President.

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