MarketFriday | Trip down Memory Lane
Inspired by #MarketFriday by @dswigle
All photos featured are from my collection. Batanes 2019.
Reality hits hard when I think of markets these days. Well, a few have managed to stay open. The rest are mostly closed until further notice. I do wonder how many would survive the lockdown. At this point, I don't want to know. Instead, I take a break from the depressing news headlines to reminisce where we were a year ago.
It was in March last year when I got to fulfill my dream of visiting Batanes. We finally got to experience the Honesty Coffee Shop that we have heard and seen on TV. We were too excited to do our shopping that I now realized we haven't taken any photos inside the shop. LOL! The name stemmed from the fact that we did our own cashiering while inside the merchandise store and coffee shop. There were no sales clerks or staff to assist us. I think that was such a unique concept, but it would hardly apply in the city. The shop was one of the many places we visited during day one of our trip.
On the second day, we had a lighter schedule. After an island trip in the morning, we were back at the B&B where we stayed by afternoon. Not wanting to waste idle time, my daughter suggested we visit Fundacion Pacita. We needed to have a reservation at the coffee shop too before we could be accommodated. Apparently, walk-ins weren't allowed.
It was a little farther away from where we were staying, but we could arrange for a tricycle ride to take us there. It turned out that we get dropped off by the signage shown above. Then, we walked the rest of the way to the compound. That was good exercise indeed.
It's a bit of an exclusive place. We checked the website and found out that it's also a bit pricey to stay there. Well, we were curious, so we went to check out the accommodation.
There were lots of really nice paintings displayed on the walls. It was once the home studio of internationally acclaimed artist Pacita Abad.
It was awesome inside. I was actually glad we went in to take a peek. It had such a homey feel. It's no wonder it's a bit pricey too.
After our little adventure, we decided to proceed to the cafe where we had our reservation. It was still a bit early, but I'm glad we were welcomed in by the staff.
The interior of the cafe is just as lovely as the hotel. There's indoor and outdoor seating. We decided to sit near the window where there's a lovely view.
Seated and looking at the really interesting menu, We decided to have an early dinner, so we could also turn in early. We had an early boat ride the following day.
That's the small bar inside the restaurant. I just noticed that we also captured the time when this was taken.
Staring out at the lovely view outside the window as we were waiting for our orders to arrive.
Our food finally arrived! My daughter decided to dry a local dish. It's sun-dried flying fish. I'm not as adventurous so I just ordered pasta.
*That's it for this week's feature on #marketFriday. Happy weekend to all! Be safe & well, wherever you are in the world! Keep strivin', do more HIVE-in'!
I'm on HIVE 'coz of:
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Documenting my life's journey:
My main blog ===> Fresh Start
I started a series since October 2018...
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beautiful house in a wonderful place!
Lovely indeed! 😊😊 be safe & well!
very good place !trdo !SHOP !COFFEEA
Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #804.
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