 |
You First Held My Hand in
Tagaytay
Words by Bianca Locsin / Images
by Dakila Angeles
Reprinted from Stopover magazine, Volume
4, Issue 15, 2005
Bounded in the East by the
People’s Park in the Sky perched atop the blasted away peak of
Mount Gonzales, and in the West by the wild Batulao mountains,
this verdant upland city sprawls on a razor’s edge, a narrow
twenty-eight-kilometer stretch of ridge-land overlooking the
emerald waters of Taal lake.
A view of mist, mountain, and water, intimate conversation
over cups of steaming coffee, an orange sunset fading over
distant peaks, shadows drifting over garden paths worn by the
tread of countelss lovers, images and moments all to familiar
to this windswept city which has played host to generations of
trysting Manileños fleeing the capital’s hustle and bustle.
Bounded in the East by the People’s Park in the Sky perched
atop the blasted away peak of Mount Gonzales, and in the West
by the wild Batulao mountains, Tagaytay sprawls on a razor’s
edge, a narrow twenty-eight-kilometer stretch of ridge-land
overlooking the emerald waters of Taal lake. Once a mere
passageway between provinces, this verdant upland city has
grown, over half a century, from a sleepy backwater of
farmers, capuchins, even cattle hustlers, to a cosmopolitan
resort enclave.
PLAYGROUND FOR THE
SENSES
It
seems not too long ago that Tagaytay consisted of nothing more
than a bandful of disparate hamlets and religious hoses tucked
away in high cogon grass. Its rustic charms remain in the
colorful flower-and-fruit stalls that line the city’s main
thoroughfare, the quaint signs marking the city’s thirty-nine
religious houses, the lanes branching off and winding into the
depths of old tree-shaded residential subdivisions, and, next
to their newer and more garish counterparts, the mom-and-pop
establishments offering everything from haircuts and steamed
rice cakes to sacks of native barako coffee and locally woven
mats and baskets. It cannot, however, be denied that a great
deal of Tagaytay’s endearing provinciality has given way to
sophistication and urbanity.
In the 1920s, an American schoolteacher from Arkansas bought
up most of the prime ridge-land and, armed with a vision of
turning the area into a playground for the elite, sold the
best of these properties to the then wealthiest and most
powerful Filipino families, among them the Quezons and the
Aguinaldos. Their secluded mansions, along with those built by
later generations, are unique wonders of antique collection
and architecture, commanding the very best views of the
crater-lake within a lake. Discovery Country Suites, a
decadent bed-and-breakfast iteration of the famous pioneer in
serviced residences in Manila, opens its doors this month to
give visitors a chance to experience a similar, if not higher,
standard of luxury.
As twilight fell one Sunday afternoon, the Country Suites’
delicate hostess, Sunshine Rose Rocha, pushed open the
mansion-inn’s carved wooden doors and led me into the
high-ceilinged sala, warmed that evening by a crackling fire.
Running the length and breadth of the room, through glass
doors, lay the open-air veranda, jutting out into a landscape
of layered purple and gray mist and rolling blue hills. A tour
revealed a suite of seven richly appointed and exquisitely
designed rooms. My favorite, the master’s bedroom, boasted
dark wood furniture, antique Spanish mirrors, and plush beds
of silk pillows and dove-white cotton sheets. The cost of a
night’s stay includes morning and afternoon repasts, served
wither on a private terrace or on the main veranda. Country
Suites’ in-house restaurant, Verbena, piloted by Executive
Chef David Pardo de Ayala, hopes to carve out a niche for
itself in the burgeoning local restaurant scene with a
daily-changing menu of hearty recipes inspired by local
produce.
BREATHTAKING VISTAS
Known more for its vistas than for its historic significance,
Tagaytay relies on the stately Taal Vista Hotel and its
handmaids, the colonial towns of Batangas, for gravitas. Two
hours from Tagaytay City, through prosperous towns and past
cliffs and ravines, is Lemery, Batangas, where the imposing
Basilica of St. Martin of Tours decays alongside the other
relics and ruins of the Taal Heritage village. Here, one can
still pretend to be its first explorer and traverse steep,
narrow streets lined with abandoned Spanish-colonial era stone
houses, their empty ballustraded wooden upper stories leaning
agains their neighbor, over their lower bases of stone.
As for
Taal Vista Hotel, this “grand old lady of a lodge,” built in
1937, has, after years of being becalmed, been returned by the
Via Fuego group to its former five-star glory. The place where
President Manuel Quezon held cabinet meetings and Governor
Reagan led Imleda Marcos through a dance has been redone in a
style general manager Alex Groizard describes as a nouvelle
mix of East and West. Its Lobby Lounge indeed combines
elements of an American log cabin – high beamed ceilings and
stone fireplace – with Zen aesthetics, evident in the clean
lines of its furniture, the soothing and muted colors of its
walls and art. At midday, Taal Vista’s Bougainvillea Pavilion
glitters in the sun like crystal. A spot reserved for
weddings, as it was on the day I visited, is a few steps from
the hotel’s legendary vast terrace on which children gambol
and lovers twine arms against a backdrop of clear blue sky.
-0-
TAGAYTAY AT A GLANCE
Tagaytay
City (population 16,322) is about sixty kilometers south of
Manila, up in the mountains of Cavite, overlooking Manila Bay
in the north, Taal Lake and Taal Volcano in the south, Laguna
Bay in the east, and China Sea in the west. Tagaytay is home
to Taal, reputed to be the world’s smallest yet most active
volcano.
Tagaytay, an hour’s drive from Manila, is
considered as the Philippines’ second summer capital because
of its crisp and cool climate all year round. The place has
given rise to many hotels and cozy bed-and-breakfasts. Among
the best are the Taal vista Hotel and the newly opened
Discovery Country Suites at 300 Calamba Road, San Jose,
Tagaytay City. Discovery Country Suites features seven
luxurious themed rooms, including a Victorian-style master
suite, as well as an outdoor Jacuzzi; a game room; mini
library; gourmet restaurant with cuisine based on local
harvest and traditional recipes; ideal space for intimate
wedding receptions; perfect interlude for honeymooners; and a
getaway for families.
For inquiries, call (63 46)
413.1076, Tagaytay, or (63 2) 683.8383 Manila.
Tagaytay City,
located 2,500 feet above sea level, enjoys a cool and
invigorating climate characterized by a relatively low
temperature, low humidity, and abundant rainfall. Average
temperature is 22.7 degrees Celsius.
|
 |
