Old Town Taal: A hop, skip, and jump away from Manila

Old Town Taal refers to the small hilltop town of Taal, dominated by the large, imposing Minor Basilica of St. Martin of Tours with its impressive neo-Renaissance pillared façade. The current location of the town is actually its third, since its founding as a settlement by the Agustinians in 1572 in the area of Balangon, Batangas. When that settlement was destroyed three years later by seafaring pirates, Taal was moved to a location by Taal Lake (formerly known as Bombon Lake), where it prospered mainly by provisioning Spanish galleons until the destructive eruption of Taal Volcano in 1754 forced its transfer to its current hilltop site. Similarly to other towns that prospered on the back of a commodity, such as coconut in Sariaya, Quezon and sugar in Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Taaleños grew wealthy on the cultivation of coffee in the late 1800s, along with other areas of Batangas, such as Lipa. Taal is home as well to many personages from Philippine revolutionary history.

First stop at Posada La Patriciana

We began our tour by visiting the “town” home of the Rodriguezes—an antique house perhaps 150 years old or more, on P. Zamora Street. The Rodriguezes painstakingly restored the house from its poor condition wherein practically only the frontage remained, riddled with termites and wood rot. A serendipitous find of old wooden beams in another Batangas location enabled them to restore the columns and trusses, after which roofing, walls, and a ceiling were added. Two levels of rooms, a kitchen and service areas, are provided by a new cement structure abutting the house behind, elegantly detailed with balconies and stair balustrades.

Mike, a history buff, added his own historic references to the interiors such as the Habsburg emblem of the double-headed eagle on the balconies, carved in wood by an itinerant carver, Nick Mendez, from Quezon province; and depictions of Spanish heraldic flags on the ceiling. The Spanish-trained conservation painter Guy Custodio was tasked to paint the interiors, and his assistant, Oliver Dadivas, to produce militaresque portraits of the family’s ancestors, who were part of the army and Guardia Civil. Trained craftsmen from the Escuella Taller of Intramuros also participated in the restoration of the home.

Somehow, the rainy day suited our visit to the dark, cool interiors of the house, dotted with many a window seat, chair and table by the sliding capiz windows along three sides of the house. The soft screen of rain muted the bright colors and noises of the town streets, painting a lovely scene of town life outside the windows.

Minor Basilica of St. Martin of Tours

We then took a short walk in the drizzle, upwards along the streets to the impressively large Minor Basilica of St. Martin of Tours, more simply known as Taal Basilica, dating back to 1878. Said to be the largest Catholic church in Asia, the massive structure was built on the back of the aforementioned coffee boom of the late 19th century. The interior space with a long nave and wide side aisles is freshly restored, using the grisaille painting technique originally rendered by the Italian duo of Cesare Alberoni and Giovanni Dibella who arrived in the Philippines in 1875, commissioned by the Agustinians to do painting work on their churches, including San Agustin in Intramuros. Grisaille uses a limited, monochrome palette, usually in grays, to portray three-dimensional decorative details (see photo). We wandered into the deep, dark convento accessed from a side aisle in search of the church museum on the second floor. But after an initial peek into the atmospheric, empty spaces there, we were shooed away by a security guard who said there was no longer a museum to see.

Lunch in a kamalig, Cuchara y Tenedor

Lunch was a short walk nearby, at Cuchara y Tenedor, set inside an airy old stone kamalig, or rice storehouse, with a very high ceiling. Owned by Ernie and Ria Villavicencio, it serves Spanish-style fare and Taal specialties. Both food and the service were very good. The Villavicencios are part of a longstanding Taal family and own several heritage houses in the town, converting them into house museums, restaurants and inns, in a bid to encourage tourism by showcasing and preserving Taal heritage.

Agoncillo White House

After lunch, we drove uphill nearby to the Agoncillo White House. Built by Gregorio Agoncillo, the early 20th century wooden house on a hill is distinguished by a wide sweeping staircase on the right side of the structure. In contrast to the white façade, the wooden interiors of the house are dark and populated by some noteworthy pieces of furniture such as an unusually tall, carved, wooden mirrored vanity, and a majestic lansena, or dining room sideboard. Handsome metal busts of prominent family members grace the four corners of the living room, possibly by the Batangas-born sculptor Anastacio Caedo. One personage depicted is Maria Agoncillo, sister of Gregorio, who became the second wife of Emilio Aguinaldo.

The well-tended front garden of the house prominently displays a statue of Gregorio’s uncle, Felipe Agoncillo, who was tasked by Emiliio Aguinaldo to travel to the United States and France in an attempt to lobby for Philippine independence in the period before the signing of the Treaty of Paris ceding the Philippines to the United States. Despite his efforts, the Treaty of Paris was signed, and Agoncillo found his place in Philippine history, as one of the earliest diplomats of the country. 

Ataalaya Guest House

The “country” home of the Rodriguezes was 20 minutes away from the town center of Taal, off the Alitagtag-Lipa highway, where we found ourselves driving along a twisting, jungle-like access road. The name Ataalaya is a play on the Spanish-Arabic term “atalaya,” meaning watchtower or vantage point. In Ataalaya, the main vantage point, as there are many, is a wide expanse of lawn between the two house structures on either side, affording a grand vista of Taal Lake into the far beyond. The fog was rolling in fast on the typhoony day, adding visual drama and mystery to the seemingly endless view. 

Two structures—the original farmhouse and a private annex, both with touches of Cape Dutch architectural details—contain living quarters and leisure areas such as a lanai and an expansive second floor balcony overlooking the lake. After a delicious merienda of Pansit Langlang and dynamite (stuffed, whole chili), we were subjected to a brief, wild spectacle of nature—cascading rain and high winds that whipped branches, toppling a small tree onto a large plant pot, smashing it to pieces. After this dramatic, atmospheric welcome, we retired briefly to our rooms to rest before a delicious dinner, which included the eight-hour-cooked sinaing na tambacol (yellow-fin tuna) from the Posada’s tungko, or traditional charcoal-fired wooden stove.

The next day, after a restful night and a hearty breakfast of tapang Taal, daing and fried rice, we set off back to Taal town to visit more heritage houses, and the Our Lady of Caysasay Shrine.

The Wedding Gift House

This highly decorated house was gifted by Eulalio Villavicencio to his bride Gliceria Marella on the occasion of their wedding in 1871. They lived in it a few years until they moved into the house next door upon the demise of the occupants, Eulalio’s parents. Curiously, the Wedding Gift house never had its own kitchen, relying instead on the kitchen of the aforementioned neighboring house, which could be accessed via a wooden bridge from the balcony, now long gone.

The house had fallen into disrepair until it was restored to its current iteration in the 1990s by one of the heirs, under the supervision of the antiquarian and heritage expert Martin Tinio. It is compact, colorful and distinctly decorated inside and out, with the walls and ceilings painted with floriated designs and bright colors, giving one the impression of a carefully-cared-for doll’s house. As part of the major renovation, period furniture and rooms were rearranged, and grand Venetian mirrors were cleaned up and rehung. The exterior is painted light blue and mustard yellow, and is distinguished by a lovely ground floor window feature with an elaborately detailed grill. The entryway to the house is via a long and grand set of low-rise stairs, a photo of which served as the cover of the 2013 design publication, Philippine Style: Design and Architecture.

The Gliceria Marella-Villavicencio House

Next door was the bahay na bato-style house where Eulalio and Gliceria Marella had moved to and lived in for the rest of their lives. Gliceria Marella Villavicencio, the recipient of the wedding gift house, was the dominant personality in the history of this home. A short video outlined her bravery as a bastion of support for the Philippine Revolution, allowing secret meetings in the house with revolutionaries such as Andres Bonifacio, General Miguel Malvar, and others. She donated the family-owned merchant ship, the SS Bulusan, to the revolutionary cause, and it is considered the first warship of what eventually became the Philippine Navy. In the dining room, we were shown a trapdoor in one corner, concealing an escape route.

The interior rooms on the upper floor were large and well furnished, with an air of faded elegance emphasized by faint painted decorative details on the walls and floaty lace curtains hanging from elaborately carved arched calados. The dark interiors were pierced by light streaming in from very large windows with their original sliding capiz shutters. A complete art deco vanity set with brushes was displayed on a wooden dresser inside a room that contained a four-poster bed with carved squash details, most probably from the Binondo workshop of the famed Chinese carver, Ah Tay.

The Goco Ancestral Home

Ashort walk across the street took us to the Goco house to lunch on Taal specialties. Entering into the zaguan area through a unique Moorish-arched double doorway, we were welcomed by a guide who gave us a brief background on the house and regaled us with interesting stories about Taal, such as the Batangas expression “ala e” being derived from “Allah,” originating from the Muslim seafarers who settled in Taal. 

We were warmly welcomed to the dining area upstairs by Philip Goco, a son of the owner of the house who orchestrated a meal of well-known Taal dishes served on the vintage crockery of his family. We sampled the famous Taal adobong dilaw, fried red snapper (maliputo) from Taal Lake, and Taal tamales which are sold fresh daily from a house to a long queue of buyers until the day’s supply runs out. Dessert was a suman drizzled with thick, dark tsokolate eh sauce poured by Philip himself.

Our Lady of Caysasay Shrine

Emerging from the Goco bahay na bato, we traversed down C.H. del Castillo Street with its many picturesque old houses still in current use. We briefly stopped by the Villavicencio-owned Paradores del Castillo—a lovely hotel decorated with antique furniture with beautiful views over Taal; and the Casa Recuerdos, an old house converted into an event space and photography studio where one can pose in Filipiniana costumes, carefully stored in rows of zippered bags. We eventually came to the hagdan-hagdan, a 125-step staircase made with granite stone (piedra china) leading downwards to the Our Lady of Caysasay shrine. The length and breadth of the staircase added a ceremonial air to the approach to the shrine.

Taal’s heritage is steeped in beautiful ancestral homes, revolutionary history, and a special shrine, among others. Our visit to Old Town Taal took in only a handful of heritage homes and interesting spots. There are many more, such as the house museum dedicated to Marcela Agoncillo, who sewed the first Philippine flag; and the market where one can buy local food specialties, embroidered Taal barong and the famed Batangas balisong folding knives. 

Local families such as the Rodriguezes, Villavicencios and Gocos work tirelessly to preserve and promote Taal’s rich heritage, seen in the wealth of carefully preserved heritage structures converted into restaurants and accommodation; and the sympathetically and beautifully restored shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay. Only two hours from Manila, Taal is a highly recommended, easy step into another era in Philippine history.