Heritage Tours – What Is It?

Heritage Tours, as opposed to a study tour, sightseeing or battlefield tours that this island vacations enthusiast have had already undergone,  are travels to experience the  historical places like the Rizal Shrine declared as a national shrine and  national historical landmark in the Philippines, cultural and natural landmarks and other heritage sites as well as the activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.

Heritage Tours – Why I Visited The  Rizal Shrine in Dapitan?

My life has been greatly influenced by the life, works and writings of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. I started reading with  great enthusiasm the comics version of his novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo in my elementary days and read the full version of such novels and other Rizal writings in high school. Modesty aside, I got an excellent mark in the college-day Rizal subject for fully digesting that the 64-chapters Noli is a romantic novel, a work of the heart, a book of feeling as it has freshness, color, humor, lightness, and wit while the 38-chapters Fili is a political novel, a work of the head and a book of the thought which contains bitterness, hatred, pain, violence, and sorrow. Nowadays, I hold the record  of holding a number of volumes of Rizaliana books in our island town of Socorro in Bucas Grande Island, Surigao del Norte, Philippines.

When I was still a child, I dreamed of joining in heritage tours and visit the places prominently mentioned in the diaries of Rizal. It was only in 1998 that I was able to accomplish the first leg of my heritage tours by visiting the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago in Intramuros, Manila where he was incarcerated by the Spaniards before being shot to death on December 30, 1896 at the Bagumbayan Field, now the Luneta Park in Manila. In the year 1999, I made the second leg of my heritage tours by travelling to the Rizal Shrine in Calamba, Laguna where the Philippine national hero was born. The next heritage tours destination was supposed to be the Rizal Shrine in Dapitan City where he was banished for a period of four years due to his subversive views against the abusive Spanish government officials and hypocritical friars and for being critical to the more than 300 years of Spanish rule of the Philippines.

Due to my hectic schedules, my heritage tours to the Rizal Shrine in Dapitan was relegated to the background. It  was only when I learned from Ivan Henares that Rizal and Travel was chosen as theme for the June 2011 Blog Carnival to honor Dr. Jose Rizal on his 150th Birth Anniversary come June 19 that my interest to pursue with my unfinished heritage tours was resurrected. Ecstatic to submit my maiden entry to the blog carnival as I became a member of the Pinoy Travel Bloggers only recently, I decided to visit Dapitan.

From Surigao City, Philippines, I chose to travel by land all the way to Mukas Port in Kolambogan, Lanao del Norte, took the barge for Ozamiz City, travelled again by land to Barangay Lorenzo Tan, Tangub City, Misamis Occidental and chose to stay overnight at the head office of Lorenzo Tan Multi-Pupose Cooperative (LTMPC), one of the largest cooperatives operating  in Mindano Island, Philippines under the abbotship of my good friend Ben Canama. From Tangub City, I travelled by private car for more than three hours making short stops at various tourist destinations of the province until I reached Dapitan, a small but progressive city in the province of Zamboanga del Norte, northwestern part of Mindanao Island, Philippines.

The sprawling, recently-inaugurated, Dapitan City Hall strategically located at the city's entry point.

While traversing the national highway adjacent to the shorelines of Dapitan City, I signalled the driver to stop as my eyes were glued at this attraction . . .

Punto del Desembarco de Rizal (Rizal’s Landing Point). This is the site where Rizal landed in Dapitan on board a row boat from the steamer Cebu at around 7:00 o’clock in the evening of July 17, 1892. Rizal was holding his hat and to his right was the Captain of the steamship Cebu while the other three are artillery men.

While standing still in front of the bronze statues, a pretty lady named Jenylen Hontiveros approached me and introduced herself as the tour guide assigned by the city government to entertain heritage tours  visitors making a stop in such  a national historical landmark. Jen had provided me substantial bits of information which reinforced my knowledge about Rizal’s travel in Dapitan.

After exchanging pleasantries with the tour giuide, I travelled on foot tracing the route of Rizal and company until I reached this place . . .

The Casa Real Marker situated at Fr. Sanchez St., Dapitan Plaza. The building was inadvertently demolished to give way for the construction of the old Dapitan Hospital. The old Municipal Hall situated on the opposite side of Dapitan Plaza which looked exactly the same as Casa Real except that the latter had front and side balconies.

The Casa Real was the official residence and administration building of Don Ricardo Carnicero, the Politico-Military Governor of the District whereJose Rizal lived as an exile from July 17, 1892 to March, 1893.

I felt excited upon seeing the entry point leading to the Map of Mindanao built by Rizal with its corresponding marker. . .

The entry point in the Dapitan Plaza leading to the Relief Map of Mindanao Island built by Rizal The Marker of the Relief Map of Mindanao at the Dapitan Plaza

Truly, I felt nostalgic when I saw the marker inside the St. James Parish Church where Rizal used to stand while attending church mass to evade from the watchful eyes of the priest who always delivered invective sermons against him for his thoughts on religious freedom. Moreover, I found interest in taking a close-up photo of the  Rizal monument at the heart of the Dapitan Plaza as it resembles that of the monument of the national hero in my island town of Socorro . . .

The interior of the St. James Church with the black marker on lower left side showing the spot where Rizal used to stand while hearing mass. A close-up photo of Dr. Jose P. Rizal monument located at the heart of the Dapitan Plaza.

I then told the driver to proceed to our next heritage tours destination- the Rizal Shrine in Barangay Talisay. After an approximately two kilometres ride, we reached the 16 hectares estate of Dr. Jose P. Rizal which he purchased out  of a portion of his winnings of the Manila Lottery. The gate signage and the Rizal Museum were the first sights captured by my keen eyes in the shrine. . .

The comely signage welcoming visitors to the Rizal Shrine The Rizaliana Museum housing rich collections of Rizal memorabilla

Being an avid collector of Rizaliana items, savoring the  exhibits inside the Rizaliana Museum is for me, more than hitting a gold mine. Candidly, there was an unexplainable feeling deep inside me while looking at Rizal’s original clothing carefully preserved in glass caskets, the blackboard and desk he used in his boys’ school, reproduction of his sculptures  (Triumph of Science Over Death, A Dapitan Girl and Prometeus Bound), paintings, and select manuscripts (Himno A Talisay, Mi Retiro – A Mi Madre and A Josefina).

Afterwards, I proceeded to the next heritage tours destination- the Casa Residencia,  replica of the house of Rizal…

The Casa Residencia. Reconstructed in 1960, this rectangular house sheltered Jose Rizal from March 1893 until he left Dapitan on July 31, 1896. It has a bedroom and features a veranda on three of its four walls and a comfort room accessible through a bridge at the rear. On various occasions, the house also sheltered Rizal's mother Teodora, his sisters Trinidad, Maria and Narcisa, some nephews, his niece Angelica and his loved one Josephine Bracken (NHI Marker).

Pushed by curiosity, I strolled around the shrine and took pictures of the Water System and the Casa Cuadrada. . .

Talisay Water System (Rizal's Dam and Aqueduct). Constructed by Rizal in 1895 with the help of the pupils, the water system provided adequate water supply for Rizal's farm and household needs (NHI Marker). Casa Cuadrada (Replica of the Pupils' Dormitory and Workshop). Rizal effected the construction of the house to accomodate the growing number of pupils in his Talisay School. The area underneath the hut served as workshop of his pupils (NHI Marker).

And also the Rizal Kitchen and Casa Redonda . . .

Replica of Rizal's Kitchen. Reconstructed at te same time and with similar materials as the main house, the kitchen has a dimension of approximately 14 feet by 10 feet and is open on all sides from waist up to facilitate airflow and prevent smoke from being trapped inside (NHI Marker). Casa Redonda (Replica of the Octagonal Clinic of Rizal). The octagonal hut served as Rizal's clinic and as dormitory of some of his pupils. Reconstructed with similar materials as the main house, it now stands as a reminder of the numerous medications performed by Dr. Jose P. Rizal during his exile in Dapitan (NHI Marker).

As I strolled further in other parts of the Rizal Shrine, I was attracted by a a rock which occupied a prominent space in the shrine only to know that it was the Mi Retiro Rock prominently mentioned in Rizal’s memoirs . . .

Mi Retiro Rock (Retreat Rock of Rizal). The rock got its name from the poem of Dr. Jose P. Rizal titled Mi retiro as it was while sitting on it that he wrote the first few stanzas of the poem (NHI Marker). It is also known as Lovers' Rock since Dr. Jose P. Rizal and Josephine Bracken has spent many romantic moments on it while savoring the scenic beauty of the Daptan Bay.

Heritage Tours – Final Thoughts

My heritage tours to the historic Dapitan to savor and experience  Rizal Shrine, which is a national shrine and national historical landmark,  and observe the diligent lifestyle led by the Philippine National Hero through the rebuilt structures of his nipa hut residence, dam and waterworks, hospital and dormitory was worth the money, time and efforts. Keeping an eye on, and having first hand information  of,  the fruits of Rizal’s four productive years  in the field of medicine, agriculture, entrepreneurship, education, science, engineering, architecture, poetry and arts in that frontier town done to ease his solitude and improve the Dapitanon’s lives while in exile are priceless pursuits that a history buff and heritage tours aficionado like you  should not miss doing yourself in the near future.

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This Heritage Tours blog post is my maiden entry to the Blog Carnival of the Pinoy Travel Bloggers in honor of Dr. Jose P. Rizal’s 150th Birthday with the theme Rizal and Travel hosted by Ivan Henares  of Ivan About Town.