Bep & Harry in Manila

November 2006

Antonio's & The 8th wonder of the world

Antonio's is one of the most famous restaurants of the Philippines. It's in Tagaytay, about an hour and a half drive from Manila, so it's not exactly easy to get there, and consequently, surprise surprise, we had never been there. What didn't help was that it's very close to Sonya's Garden so we usually ended up there, under the impression that the garden walk there would anyway be better than 'just' the restaurant we thought Antonio's was. Wrong!! Antonio's has actually its own garden and after all the building that has recently gone on at Sonya's Garden, Antonio's is actually nicer! Of course we needed a special occasion (duh) and what better reason than to take visitors from the west? Harry and Bep, Marieke's parents, had come to visit us for three weeks.

I think if you add up all self-proclaimed 8th wonders of the world, you probably end up with 800 or so. Still, the Philippines have something to say for their 8th world wonder - it is one of the few made by people because they wanted to, not because some megalomaniac king forced them to. Carved out of stone mountains about 2000 years ago, the rice terraces in Banaue are known to be one of the most beautiful tourist spots in the country.

Read the full story at the entry for November 2006 (either in recent or in the archives...)