Early Holy Week trip to Kamay ni Hesus Lucban Quezon (Part 1)

This happens about two months ago I was just too busy and too lazy to update and post our adventure at Lucban, Quezon. It’s just merely a 2 day trip to have but still a worthy of our time, physical exhaustion and rainy weather exploration. LOL!

It was Friday night when I and my friend talked about weekends. Just hang-out or something else and traveling out of town was the least I have been thinking neither she. But we ended up going to Lucban Quezon, she has been telling me about the place to go and it is one of the places on our travel list that we planned to go to. And finally after few hours of looking at net for briefing of the place and inviting few of our friends or I can say just one haha we settled down by the two of us. It is an unexpected trip, a last minute preparation and a last minute decision. Kamay ni Hesus Shrine here we come!

Day 1

We boarded the bus for the 8am trip (I think every hour there’s a trip to lucena) at Buendia terminal of JAC Liner. There are also other busses too like the JAM transit and DLBTBco but JAC Liner was the most accessible one and we have known it or maybe it was the Bus Terminal with a small banner of “Wi-Fi on Board” if we are passing by going to Lawton .

The travel takes around 3-4 hours and paid almost 200 pesos each for the fare. While we were on the road we were discussing about Where to stay? Where to eat? What “pasalubongs” to buy and the future place we were going to next. Yes were planning already were to go next after the Quezon trip. J By 11:30 we arrived at the Lucena Grand Central Terminal and there are jeepney’s bound to Lucban that will be an hour ride or more. Fare is less 50 pesos (sorry I forgot).

Kamay ni Hesus Shrine

The shrine is located on the highway so it was easy to look for or you can ask the conductors of the jeeps to get you at the Shrine. Thankfully we have arrived unscathed! Haha just kidding the people and the conductors are very polite and friendly. Finally were here! But it was raining too hard! As in not showers, not mild but raining hard as if there’s a storm coming. My friend already checked the weather condition the night before. She knew that sunny day was not most likely to be felt still we headed for it besides while we were still on the road the weather was fine and quite sunny. Anyways we have agreed to eat lunch first maybe the rain would stop. Inside the grounds of the shrine you will find of course the chapel, canteen and dormitory of the priests and nuns (im not sure), eateries and souvenir shops. There is also a big Noah's Arc Like and found out it was a lodging actually. Cool! :) We decided to eat first and think about later if were going to the shrine or not yet.

Lunch time! Meals were around 100 pesos and worthy of the price. After, we look around the souvenir shops. we have read about Quezon's Buri hats, bags and etc and it was all in low prices and beautiful unfortunately i haven't buy anything of Buri products and i was actually planning to buy at least one Buri Hat for the oncoming beach getaway for the summer. I have regretted it so much! Really! haha Back to the shrine we have decided not to go yet since it was really raining. We decided to look for Lodgings but in a small budget and have found Summer Capital Inn. It was located at the town proper of Lucban Quezon which is 15-20 minutes travel by Tricycle or better Jeeps. Summer Capital Inn was the most affordable lodging there its not that very classy and cozy like the other hotels but it was comfortable enough to stay at. We paid 400-500 pesos for the two us for one night only. No AC in our room only a fan but it's okay because it was really cold. I think we never use the fan anyways. Since we were tired from the trip we decided to take a nap first and woke up before dinner. We explored the little town of Lucban.

Church of Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse

Inside of the Old church, at the side a big statue of St. Louis

This Photo was taken from the small veranda of our room. Our Inn was at the back of the Church of Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse and the church was really old! :)

the busy street of Lucban.. :)

This Busy street in the morning was really relaxing to look at and since Quezon province was an eco-friendly place. People here uses "Bayongs" to carry their bought foods from the market rather than using plastic bags. Such a cutie to see haha

There are still old houses around and since i was very fond fond of old houses and antiques you can consider the exaggerated reaction of anime character's having their eyes shining brightly. That was me! :)

Plaza Rizal

Plaza Rizal. It's like the center of the town. not far from there is the old house of the photo taken, the small municipal hall, around it was drugstores, souvenir shops of different Buri products, Longganisa Lucban, The Buddys and all of biscuits favorites. :) There are also Cafe's, Restaurants, grills and very few Bars.

The Pink hotel beside the plaza was the Patio Hotel. I think It was a great place too. If you have enough budget you can choose it for your accommodation. Batis Aramin Resort and Hotel which is also a good place to stay is located in front of the Kamay ni Hesus shrine.

Of course for our dinner we tried their famous Pancit HabHab which is very, very delicious! To see our Food trip at Lucban. You can visit my Friend's Food Blog http://munchersandnibblers.blogspot.com you can see all the food we have eaten there and the pasalubongs too! :)

Day 2 to be continued...

:)

Some Photos courtesy of my friend and travel buudy. :)

Thanks!