Cathedral, Roxas City, Panay.
Angel clams.
Coco Veranda Restaurant, Roxas City Beach, Panay. January 2016
Old Capiz
Panay Island is a funny little triangle in the puzzle that is the Philippine archipelago. Off the northern tip floats Boracay [see: Boracay] with beaches so dazzlingly white, the vendors sell sunglasses so visitors don't go "sand blind" (I am serious). Panay also holds some of the Philippines oldest Spanish colonial structures like Miagao Church [see: Miagao Church] which is UNESCO World Heritage listed. The economic capital is Iloilo - a place so nice, they named it twice! The administrative and economic hub of the island with an airport and seaport, Iloilo has the most modern amenities. Roxas City (Capiz) usually doesn't figure much into anyone's travel plans to the island, but in fact, visitors are missing out by not going. Roxas City was once the real capital of Panay, but now is content to claim itself as the "Seafood Capital of the Philippines". It just may well be!
An interesting historical note: during the American Occupation of the Philippines. the islands were divided up into zones for different Protestant sects to "evangelize" the natives. Panay was in the Western Visayas, so it came under the purview of the Baptist Church. To this day, there are Baptist churches and Baptist-affiliated schools on the island. How odd the need to "Christianize" a staunchly Catholic country?? It is as if America completely forgot those hard earned lessons of the wars of religion in Europe. Anyway, back to Roxas.
Later, in the independent Philippines, Capiz was looked upon as the name from Spanish and American colonial days and was changed to commemorate Manual Roxas, the first modern Filipino president. Well done, I say, but I still kind of liked Capiz since it fit more with the "seafood capital" theme - more on that to come.
With so many Filipinos working overseas and many hailing from Bacolod, Negros (just the next island over) and Iloilo itself, it made sense that eventually there would be international flights to Iloilo Airport. While I was in Saudi Arabia, I found a three times weekly link from Dubai directly to Iloilo and I was intrigued. Fast trips in and out of the Philippines, unless they are to Manila or Cebu, are really not possible due to dubious connecting flights and/or long bus or ferry rides. A flight that got me right onto uncrowded Panay from Dubai? I had to try! I had a week's vacation coming up at my job, so I planned a blow through trip to Panay to visit my good friend JRC from nearby Bacolod and to take in more of "mostly overlooked" Panay Island.
JRC met me at the airport and arranged a taxi to get us to Roxas City. What was hilarious was that the driver missed the turn off for Roxas. JRC and I were so busy chatting and catching up in the taxi that we didn't notice. Suddenly, I saw road signs indicating we were getting closer to Kalibo (the city near Boracay). The driver stopped and asked directions and indeed he had blown by the turn off. I found it hard to believe that an airport taxi driver on his native island could NOT find his way to the second biggest city, but.... that is another issue. After bumping along some dubious backroads, we finally made it to Roxas City and a clean little hotel on the edge of downtown.
What most people forget about the Philippines is just how OLD the Spanish settlements were there. Spain colonized it for 300 years. A lot of structures date to the 17th century, so while we often think of seeing old churches and government buildings from that age in Europe, most people never consider the Philippines also has a rich heritage in Spanish architecture. The Spanish founded "Capiz" to be a great port and trading hub on the island of Panay to compete with Cebu. The name Capiz came from a local name for a certain kind of oyster, by the way. I thought certainly there was a "Capiz" in Spain, but actually not. Old downtown had its typical government buildings and a cathedral. It was much like other cities in the Philippines except.... this was the seafood capital.
The downtown was a distance from the sea. We took a "tricycle" to the beachfront and found a long stretch of black sand beach (not too inviting, but clean enough) and a string of restaurants. Our first discovery was that Roxas City was the Seafood Capital of the Philippines - for dinner only! Well, anyway, we walked along the beach and scoped out where we would eat later that evening. The place was amazingly empty and chill. We bought some cool drinks and watched the fisherman along the beach.
We returned in the evening and the place was open and buzzing. Since it wasn't the weekend, it wasn't overly crowded. The array of fresh seafood WAS SIMPLY AMAZING. Even JRC who grew up eating fresh seafood in Bacolod admitted it was an incredible place. Since I was earning a decent salary at the time and the restaurants were cheap, we just ate anything we felt like. Honestly, I could have stayed there a month and worked through every restaurant's menu on that beach. The food was that amazing. Not to mention there were kinds of seafood (like the "angel clams" shown above} that I had never heard of. I will be quite honest -- it was worth the long trip from Abha, Saudi Arabia to Roxas City, Philippines just to eat seafood. The food was up there with some of the top meals I have eaten on my many trips the Philippines.
Not much else held our attention in Roxas City and one can only eat so much on a short stay. We headed back to Iloilo to explore more of Panay.
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