My father's family hails from Bicol but they have long moved to Manila, even before I was born.
I recall visiting my father's home town just once. I was so young then about 10 and I only remember bits and pieces of our short vacation. We never got to visit back, due maybe to our busy schedule and well the fact that it more than 400km away.
So the land of Mayon Volcano has always been in bucketlist. We actually started planning about 2 years ago, but planning was unfortunately halted by Covid19 Pandemic lockdowns.
Last February, we (my husband and I and my younger sister who was barely 5 when we went to Bicol) finally took off the road to Bicol.
Sharing with you our 5 days/4 nights DIY Bicol frolics.
DAY 1 - MANILA TO BICOL
We left Rizal at 4:30am and reached our first stop (breakfast) at around 630am.
Breakfast was at Taza Mia at Tagpuan Villa Escudero, San Pablo City.
We ordered breakfast set meals which comes with brewed coffee. Food was very good and filling, perfect for a day on the road.
There is a McDonalds across Taza Mia and before hitting the road again, we decided to get take out breakfast sandwiches in case we get hungry. This was a good thing as we were not able to find much restaurant to our liking. We ate our take outs on the way and skipped lunch.
Our First Glimpse of the Magnificent Mayon Volcano via Camalig By-Pass-Road. We would be seeing more of her in this Mayon blog series...
Legazpi is only about 13kms from here. We intended to dine at Balay Cena Una, but was disappointed learning it has been closed since the start of the pandemic. Not sure if it has already opened as of writing.
1st Colonial Grill
Famished (skipping lunch) and driving straight with just bathroom breaks wasn't such a good idea.... we are elated to find ourselves at 1st Colonial at SM Legazpi.
Check-in at Lotus Blu Hotel
Our residence in Bicol for the next 4 days
We arrived at Lotus Blu at around 6pm. There was a mishap on the room assigned to us and was too late to correct it on our first night since the hotel was apparently packed. They were apologetic though and moved us to our preferred room the next day.
The room is basic, but we rested well. There is no pool and we did not see any lounge except for the lobby seating at the ground floor. Breakfast is set meal with very few options.
Housekeeping was very efficient, they kept the room spic and span and replenished our supplies. Location wise, Lotus Blu is spot on. It is a short walking distance from SM Legazpi, outside but near the city center which means less traffic. It was a good jump off point for tourists.
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| Got this photo from TripAdvisor, I was not able to get a picture of our actual room as we were too tired from our days travel. |
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