If you're the kind of person who appreciates art and beauty, I really suggest that you allot one of your weekends for a quick visit to Pinto Art Museum. This contemporary museum is located in Grand Heights Subdivision in Antipolo. Just a really quick drive especially for those from Marikina City and other towns of Rizal.
Since it has been a long time since we went there and yes, I'm just doing some catch up with my blog posts, I'm pretty sure that a lot of things have changed. Their area was surprisingly big and lots of places to explore. Art pieces were evenly displayed within the whole museum. My friend Moneth and I really enjoyed taking lots of pictures and hence this blog post, to share it with everyone and as my keepsake as well.
After an hour or so, we decided to take a break and tried the only cafe at the time inside Pinto Art, the Cafe Rizal by Peppermill. Food prices were quite expensive already back then. We ordered a pizza for us to share and fruit shakes to cool off. It is not common for a red grape fruit shake to be included on most cafe menus and so I decided to go for that. The verdict is, it was worth it.
Greece has always been one of my dream travel destinations so anything that is Greek style inspired, I will totally love it! If you will notice, the theme of Pinto Art Museum is a mix of Greek architecture and Filipino Art. Hence, I really enjoyed going around the Pinto Art Museum.
Pinto Art Museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays, from 10 AM to 6 PM. I suggest that you go mid-day in order to take advantage of the rays of sunlight for your photos and at the same time, see the beauty of the place near twilight. Entrance fee is at 250 pesos for adult admission.
Liwliwa beach in San Felipe, Zambales is one of the famous surfing spots in Luzon. In just around 3 1/2 hours drive from Manila, you'll reach the peaceful town of San Felipe which is now popular among the youth as an easy to reach beach travel destination.
If I were to compare the vibe in Liwliwa with another famous surfing spot which is San Juan, La Union, the vibe here is more laid back and chill than the latter. The shores are wider since most of the resorts are located at an ideal distance from the beach. This gives the tourists a wider beach shore to enjoy. Right now given the boost of popularity of Liwliwa, more aesthetically designed resorts and accommodation options have been constructed over the years, giving now the tourists more choices for comfortability and flexibility depending on their budget. I visited this beach before with a few close friends who were my work mates at that time. We just stayed overnight and rented a simple kubo hut for us to stay.
The advantage of having guys in the group is that there's someone willing to help set-up a bonfire. Another group of tourists also helped us with it. So we just chilled by the beach with a bottle of beer in our hands. If I remember it right, this was the first time that I get to travel with my now very close friends Jec and Jam, that is not part of a company event. I guess our friendship developed more over time as we continued to travel together. Kareen, our bunso was also with us which made this trip much more fun.
We just stayed overnight in Liwliwa for we just planned a quick escape that one weekend. We didn't find many food options around the area back then but I'm sure there are lots now due to its recent popularity over social media. I just wish that the town officials are able to consistently preserve the cleanliness in the beach and protect this wonderful gem of nature.
