After a day of rest the tour was continuing today. We were now a group of twelve and things turned out less family-style than on the previous part of the trip. My foot was doing much better as well; the limping continued, but with very limited pain only – the swelling had gone down as well, I was able to wear shoes again.

The plan for this morning was a tour through intramuros – the walled old town of Manila. We were picked up by jeepney and – after a rainy stop at Rizal Park (and a major business opportunity for an umbrella vendor) – made it into intramuros and right to the gates of Fort Santiago. After a tour of the site we continued towards Manila Cathedral – but not without trying some of the local specialties on the way: cheese icecream and taho (kind of a pudding based on soft tofu).

The cathedral was busy … a marriage ceremony was in process. After a quick look we left the church and continued for the next – San Agustín Church. This one comes complete with a nice museum of catholic art and history in the Philippines. The church is part of a group the UNESCO world heritage Baroque Churches of the Philippines. The church also houses a small cemetery.

From the church we made it to a restaurant across the street for some episcopally approved lunch. After lunch we crossed the street once more, to make it into casa manila, an old block of houses, that are now housing shops, restaurant and a museum, that we were now heading for.

By the time, we had concluded our visit to the museum, we were well into the afternoon – and were now picked up by our bus, to make make our way straight to the airport. The one our flight to Puerto Princesa on Palawan was scheduled to leave in the early evening.