Zamboanga City Travel Guide || REDISCOVERING ZAMBOANGA

Photo taken at Zamboanga Internional Airport

It's definitely more fun in the Philippines and most specially it is more fun in my hometown- ZAMBOANGA CITY!

Bienvenidos!

Most common misconception whenever I say that I am from Zamboanga City is that the place is unsafe and that all individuals who live in the area are Muslims(there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim but not everyone is one, may mga Zamboangueño, Bisaya, Subanen at marami pang iba)
Zamboanga City for me is the center of the Zamboanga Peninsula as most individuals would tend to stay in Zamboanga to study, work or eventually live in the City.

Before, the City was known as the City of Flowers but eventually changed to Asia's Latin City.

Photo inside the plane

March 9, 2017, 5:45am. Flying solo as my flight was affected by the Tagaytay radar maintenance. My cousins were already in Zamboanga a day earlier.

Me and my cousins from the father side(SEVERINO DELA CRUZ CLAN) decided to have our first ever reunion after more than a decade. We thought of reuniting our parents as they are growing old and we would like to see them happy(sino bang ayaw na happy ang parents nila right?)

It was a rainy morning, I arrived safely at around 7:30am.

Let the foodtrip, laughtrip and rediscovering begin!

A week or 2 before my flight I thought of rediscovering Zamboanga. I have been going back and forth but my cousins have not been in the area for more than a decade now and so I will show them around and help them rediscover the beauty of our CIUDAD DE ZAMBOANGA.

Salamat sa pagsundo Mudra, Pudra and couz Ate Bibing

1ST STOP(1st day, March 9,2017 : 8:30am)
🚦🚦BAGSAKAN CENTER or formerly called                     STA. CRUZ MARKET🚦🚦
🚥Location: Gov. Camins Rd. Zamboanga City
➡How to get there:
from the airport, you may ride a tricycle and ask the driver to drop you off bagsakan. Fare may vary from 30pesos-60 pesos depending on your tawad skills and number of passengers.

This place is one of the big "palengke's" that we have in the City. If you are looking for affordable and fresh vegestables, fruits and the like, then this is the place to visit.

Buko juice, pantanggal uhaw mga beshies

2ND STOP(1st day, March 9,2016 : 10am)
       🚦🚦CANELAR BARTER TRADE🚦🚦
🚥Location: Canelar, Zamboanga City
➡How to get there:
In Zamboanga, when you are not familiar with the place just hail a tricy and manong driver will get you to the location where you need to go.
There are no Taxi's or Grab and Uber but there are jeepneys but they are all available from downtown Zamboanga and if you are not familiar with the location then the tricy is the way to go.

Andaming shawl mga besh

Best place to buy pasalubong

         
 Funfact: me and my cousins went here 3 times during our entire Zamboanga trip, ganito ka addicting mamili dito mga beshies

More products from the barter. These are from Malaysia, Thailand and other neighboring countries

You may also visit the barter downtown near the City hall. Located infront of Tsokolate.

3RD STOP(1st day, March 9, 2017 : 12pm)
               🚦🚦BIGBEN'S KITCHEN🚦🚦
https://www.facebook.com/Benj.V.Rutherford
Location: AGC Bldg Gov. Ramos Ave. Sta Maria. Beside pick and go and fronting Sta. Maria Elementary school.

How to get there:
From downtown you can take a jeepney and have manong driver drop you off near the school or as i have mentioned mag-tricycle ka nalang beshie!

Photo taken outside of Bigben's for your reference

They also have a signeage, hindi ka mawawala beshy

Their menu may vary per day so you might want to check their fb page prior to going.

I pre-ordered our food thru their fb page to make sure the food was ready when we get there. You may also do the same.

 

Seafood feast for 3-5 persons for 748 php

   

Seafood feast- kalkag rice, black rice, pan grilled white marlin, grilled calamari, butter garlic shirmp, singaporean crabs, white marlin soup and seasonal fruits

With the owner of Bigben's Kitchen, Mr. Benj V. Rutherford. Thank you for the warm welcome and for the short but informative talk.

Our food was prepared by the owner Ben, let's see if mauubos namin ang seafood boodle feast for 3-5 person

I finally got to try the much raved about kitchen in facebook

Their logo

Some of their promos

Till next time Bigben's Kitchen

More info about the restaurant and our thoughts about the food on a separate blog soon.

There's no place like home. With my Cousin Eric who's back after 12 years. Welcome to Barangay Maasin.

After lunch we went home, 13 kms from downtown to a small barangay called Maasin, according to an old story the reason why our barangay was called such was because before when Spaniards asked the locals/Subanens what the place was called they did not understand what was being asked and so they answered "asin" as  during that time they were very busy making salt or "asin". Since then the place was called MAASIN and till present.

Upon arriving home at 3pm we ate meryanda prepared by our titas.(eto ang masarap pag nasa probinsya ka ang sarap ng food) Tamal and Rebusaw were just some of the food prepared for us before our family trip downtown(pueblo in Chavacano).

Meryendatime! Tamal! Yummers!

Tamal is available every weekend together with other Zamboanga delicacies.

This is Zamboanga's rebusaw! Thanks Anti Vita for cooking this for us. Rebusaw is available in the streets of Zamboanga everyday usually between 2pm-4pm.

Some of our relatives waiting for us.

My cousins Ate Janet(back after almost 2 decades) and Eric(back after more than a decade)

Ready na ang tour guide mga beshies! Let's rediacover Zamboanga!

4TH STOP(1st Day March 9,2016 : 5pm)
           🚦🚦FORT PILAR SHRINE🚦🚦
Location: N.S Valderosa St. Zamboanga City
How to get there: ride a tricycle para hindi ka mawala or if you are already downtown you may also walk to Fort Pilar.

FORT PILAR

Brought our relatives to Fort Pilar to attend Mass!

My Zamboanga trip would nit be complete without visiting this place.

So we decided to go downtown(pueblo in Chavacano) to pay some respect and ask for safety and guidance from our beloved Nuestra Señora La Virgen del Pilar. The weather did not favor us but rain or shine we still decided to visit. We brought food as our original plan was to go to Pasonanca Park or Paseo del Mar to have a little dry picnic with the Severino Dela Cruz Clan.
We found ourselves at the doorstep of one of the famous restaurants in Zamboanga named BARCODE instead.

5TH STOP(1st day March 9, 2017 : 6pm)
          🚦🚦BARCODE ZAMBOANGA🚦🚦
https://www.facebook.com/barcode.zamboanga
Location: Rizal St. Zamboanga City
How to get there: From downtown(pueblo) this is accessible by foot or if you want to get there fast mag tricy ka na besh.

The famous Vinta at Barcode-Rizal branch 

Barcode Rizal(photo not mine, ang lakas ng ulan kaya hindi makapagpic ng maayos)

Barcode has 3 branches: Paseo, Rizal and WMSU. The owners Dae Atilano Tatel and Manuel Tatel Sr. were not at the location but we would like to thank them and the person in charge Ms. Ruth for allowing us to use the function room in such short notice. We were a group of 25 more or less and it was a busy night at the restaurant.

Contact details for your reference

Bilao of barcode

Barcode's version of knickerbucker

Before going to the resto i sent them a messege asking if we could bring our food or if there's any fee/corkage, and there's none. The staffs are nice and accommodating, they made sure we were comfortable and felt at home.

More info about this resto and food recommendations on a separate blog soon.

5 destinations in one day despite the heavy rain. ✔

Seeing your family happy and reunited is definitely a nice feeling.

We decided to sleep together in my old room(sweet, oo pero dahil din occupied ang ibang rooms because our relatives are staying with us, hehe)


QOTD(quote/s of the day):  Family, we may not have it all together but together we have it all.
Family is everything.

Xoxo,
Apryl of Pinayaventures

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