Vigan’s Old World charm speaks to you in its cobblestoned walkways, its Bahay-na-Bato dwellings along Calle Crisologo, Calle Salcedo, and the many other streets comprising the capital’s city square.

A three-hour drive from my hometown, Vigan was always a delight to visit. The thought of living almost next-door to a World Heritage Site was reason enough for visits both unplanned and not.

One of the best things about Vigan is the relative convenience by which one can see the sights. Famed Calle Crisologo is walkable from the city center (just behind the Vigan Cathedral, where calesas or horse-drawn carriages are lined neatly, waiting for passengers to take around the city).

Calle Crisologo is now lined with souvenir shops, wooden carvings to woven bags to the traditional Vigan City shirt. Unfortunately, it needs more of those wooden calesa-inspired benches for visitors to simply sit on and watch calesas pass by for a little longer than five minutes. Calle Crisologo, after all, is so charming and beautiful one needs to make a full stop to take in its beauty (and the street is quite long and guaranteed to tire you out halfway through).

So here’s Vigan from the several trips I had made, starting in 2008:

An assortment of trinkets and souvenir items for sale along Calle Crisologo. The products of Ilocos are bursting in color and texture, and I’m proud to be from this place of such beautiful sights!

“Casa Rica”One of my first photos of Vigan, during an evening walk along Calle Crisologo. There’s just so many interesting subjects any time of the day. Photographers will never tire of it.

“Parcel”

Butterfly wings

Taken during my first trip to Vigan. We walked from the bus station to the city square, which took some 10 minutes, plus a longer period spent taking photos along the way.

I love the blue sky in this photo, and to this day this remains one of my favorites.

Taken from one of those abandoned-looking corners of Calle Crisologo. I’ve always wondered what was on the other side.

So visit Vigan, and be charmed!  

DIRECTIONS TO CALLE CRISOLOGO AND NEARBY

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