I was on transit going home from work and browsing the photo folder in my mobile phone and thinking of what article to post today when I came cross these images. The Bantay Watchtower in Ilocos Sur, this is one of the great place we visited in this great hometown.
Bantay Tower, which served as a watchtower for pirates back in the Spanish colonial era, gave the town its name - bantay (meaning to guard). Established in 1590, the church is one of the oldest in the Ilocos Region.
I didn't let the heat of the sun in the middle of the day to stop me from walking up the stairs upto the entrance located at the base of the tower. There are also some visitors who like me was curious and wanted to see whats inside.
I am very lucky that when I went inside, theres not much of visitors at that time. It was an easy climb, from the wooden flights of stairs that can be accessed from the entrance in the tower’s base and ends at the top (third level) which houses one main and four smaller bells.
At the end of the climb, you will be greeted by a huge, old bell. Once inside, you will noticed that the structure of the tower was made of old bricks and limestone.
The view from the tower is really breathtaking as you almost see the entire town. It is crazy fantastic.
My way downstairs is a bit hard as there are already bunch of visitors lining up in the tiny wooden stairs waiting for their turn to climb up the tower. You must give way to those going down and not to overload the belfry because it may not accomodate that much of visitors.
These photos gave me memories of our travel to this amazing town especially to this tower. I am sure that it will take me another year before I even visit this place again.
