Fort Santiago

One of the activities included in my daughter's HEKASI subject (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika - Geography, History and Civics...whew!) is to visit Fort Santiago with the family. It aims for a vicarious experience for the students of a great part of the last days of Dr. Jose Rizal before his execution at Bagumbayan (Rizal Park or more popularly knows as Luneta).

I see this as a wonderful idea by most schools. A light discussion on a historical event among the family members proved to be very engaging for us. The last time we visited The Walled City was maybe seven years ago when my daughter was still a toddler. This trip to Fort Santiago was very much appreciated.


Our visit coincided with the Marian Convention. Different floats of the Virgin Mary were on exhibit inside the fort. I had a good time taking pictures even if it was so crowded and the temperature very humid.


One of the many interesting exhibits inside the Rizal Shrine was the enshrined vertebra of the national hero with a bullet wound. My daughter was in awe when she read what was embossed on the glass partition of the cabinet. We were all in awe.


The last steps of Jose Rizal were immortalized by embedding brass plates from his detention cell to the gates of Fort Santiago. You can see a lot of children following his steps just like what my daughter did. "He's got small feet", she said. Small he may be in height and built but big in courage, goals and vision for the Philippines.


We went around Fort Santiago for almost two hours. My daughter finally had to sit on the pavement and rest before leaving the area. We were all tired and exhausted but definitely, we had a great time visiting Fort Santiago. It was a different experience reliving a part of our history.


Next stop is looking for a place to eat. Changed top as it was really hot in Fort Santiago and bought my daughter's monthly dose of Total Girl magazine. While waiting for our orders, my daughter went back in her present time and browsed her magazine, read about one her favorites, Justin Bieber, her present-day hero so-to-speak. :)

This is my first entry for Pixel Bug Weekend. I love joining photo meme and I hope to do this consistently. :)