Taal, Batangas Tours (Part 1)

* welcome arcs in Taal, Batangas:
the Balisong and Barong Tagalog Capital of the Philippines

* Taal’s Casa Real, the town hall

The town of Taal, Batangas is quite famous for several things: 1) the Batangas blades or balisong; 2) the Taal church or the Basilica de San Martin de Tours; 3) the image of Our Lady of Caysasay (mentioned actually in Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere); 4) the Taal Tapa; 5) and its numerous old houses and some heritage houses as well. The trip to Taal was born out of the desire to revisit the place after the brief preview of the town thanks to Philippine Institutions 100 (P.I. 100) subject field trip back in college. I felt bitin and somehow this revisit made up for that longing.

* a monument of Jose Rizal found just in front of Taal’s municipal hall

* “Ang Taal Kay Gat Jose Rizal”:
a slogan of sort found below Jose Rizal’s monument in Taal

Taal, A Concise History

The marker installed just outside the town hall gives the visitors a concise history of Taal. First organized in a place called Balangon in 1572, the town of Taal was later moved to its present location due to the frequent volcanic eruptions [presumably of the Taal Volcano]. It was then made into a capital in 1732 and so for a time, the whole province [of Batangas] was named Taal. The year 1752 saw again the town’s destruction due to volcanic eruption and the provincial capital was then transferred to Batangan [where present name of Batangas was derived].

The world’s smallest volcano is named after Taal which sits in the midst of a lake. In the volcano’s crater a smaller lake is also found where an island is found. Several recorded volcanic eruptions happened in the years 1634, 1635, 1641, 1709, 1716, 1720, 1731, 1749, 1754, 1867, 1874, 1880, 1911, and 1965.

Taal once covered the towns of Lemery, San Luis, Agoncillo, San Nicolas, and Santa Teresita.

* Taal Tours preview: Basilica de San Martin de Tours, a Food for the Trails entry, and the houses in Taal

[How to go to Taal, Batangas: 1) From Manila: One can board a bus bound for Lemery, Batangas. You can find such buses near Gil Puyat LRT Station in Manila. Presumably, there are also buses bound for Lemery found in bus stations along EDSA Cubao. 2) From the provinces (particularly in the Southern Tagalog region): Travel to Turbina, Calamba City, Laguna. There you can find buses bound for Lemery, Batangas. Alternatively, you can make a short side trip to Batangas City proper. From there you can hail a jeepney bound for Bauan, Batangas and/or Lemery, Batangas.]