New Developments in Historic Downtown Cebu City, Philippines

I like to check out changes in Historic downtown Cebu City, and here are some of them. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.



There is a mural on The Shepherd's Heart Cafe across the Heritage Monument, near the Yap-Sandiego Museum and Old Jesuit House.

The Shepherd's Heart Cafe is itself a fairly new establishment started by Peace Corps Volunteer, Amelia Kent. It was closed on Sunday, but I'll visit it next week. The Cafe is a non-profit that trains and helps provide a livelihood to women who havw been exploited. It's a good cause, and the coffee and sandwiches/snacks there are excellent.

The Gigantes (Giants) above are remnants of the recent Sinulog Festival. 

The Cathedral Museum has a nice Cafe with outdoor seating and a touristy board for picture taking.

This white building along the waterfront is the historic Gotiaoco Building that's earmarked to be the Sugbo Chinese Heritage Museum. For a couple of years, there had been no development to the building, but now I see that it's been white-washed, there's a Chinese Gate in front, and some plans are posted along the side of the building. Chinese merchants and traders influenced the history of Cebu, so this museum will play an important role in telling that story.

Near the Sugbu Chinese Heritage Monument is a new little park, the Magellan Park. This extends another relatively new Senior Citizens Park. I will guess that Cebu's Mayor Mike Rama made the Magellan Park happen.  Mayor Rama has been working hard to improve the historic district including improving Plaza Independencia, the Carbon Market (wet market), and others.

Improvements in the Historic area are slow in happening, but thankfully are taking place. The simple fact is that millions of tourists visit Historic downtown Cebu, so it is wise for city officials to continue developing this part of Cebu City.

Read also
Walking Tour of Old Cebu
Pictures of Historic Cebu 1 
Pictures of Historic Cebu 2
Pictures of Historic Cebu 3


Tags: Cebu City, Philippines, Sugbu, museums, travel, tourism, #CebuPhilippines

This is all for now,
Cecilia