Part 3 of my Road Trip series is our "detour" to visit some churches on our way home. Being as the Holy week is just a few days away this is known in the Philippines as Visita Iglesia.
In the Philippines, Visita Iglesia or The Seven Churches Visitation is a pious Roman Catholic Lenten tradition to visit seven churches on the evening of Maundy Thursday (some go beforehand to avoid traffic or the number of people also doing Visita Iglesia). Following the Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Blessed Sacrament is placed on the Altar of Repose in the church for Adoration. During the Seven Churches Visitation, the faithful visit several churches – sometimes seven, sometimes fourteen, sometimes no set number depending upon the particular practice – to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in each church. [1]
Since we were already in Batangas, the first church we went to was the Catedral de San Sebastian (The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian) or commonly known as Lipa Cathedral.
Growing up in a province that has a lot of old churches to boast about, the Cathedral didn't strike me as anything special from the outside. It just looked like other churches (a little bit like Quiapo Church). But it's the inside that was amazing. The door has intricate carvings and the ceiling paintings were beautiful.
I may not believe in the traditions or practices of this particular religion, the historical architecture of these building is still worth seeing. They are testaments of the history of my country. These Churches having been standing there for a long time and will still stand there for the faithful or the curious.
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Our detour would not be complete without food. My partner's brother-in-law wanted to try Batangas Lomi and this restaurant came with good reviews.
Apparently the restaurant was Lomi Festival Champion in 2010 and 2012. It's located at Recenos Compound, Sabang, Gen. Luna St, Lipa. Reviews mention their Award-Winning Lomi and so we had to try it. My partner makes to-die-for Lomi, I had my benchmark.
This is one of their best sellers the Lechon Lomi. It's sold for Php70 ($1.34) for a big bowl that 2 people can share or one really hungry person can eat alone (or if you just happen to have a big appetite or like food). The consistency of the soup base is thicker than what we are used to here in the Metro and there was only the Lechon on top, no veggies. Their Special Lomi might have the veggies I was looking for. Anyway, even with the hot weather the soup got cold fast and the thicker soup congealed to something really unappetizing. The Batangeneos might prefer their Lomi cooked this way, it's just not for me. I may be biased but my Partner's Lomi is still the one I'll choose any day.
Rating: ⭐
Rating this for the effort. Not recommended at all.
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