After running a marathon, I decided to just do a walk around in Cagayan De Oro City. I only have half day to spare since my flight will be in the evening. I was not able to explore much with a short walk. I probably missed a lot of tourist attractions but my simple tour took me to some wonderful highlights in the City of Golden Friendship.
There is a 4-hour city tour of CDO called the Tsada Kagay-an Half Day City Tour. However, I was not able to contact them on a Sunday evening, so I decided to just follow their itinerary by foot which probably covers half of the Tsada Kagay-an tour highlights.
I was guided by a map from agoda.com. It has some markers on it which helped me plot my route for the walk. Everything is just a few blocks apart. Their proximity is not an issue if you just ran 42 kilometers the other day. Hehehe…
The Tsada Kagay-an is a four hour city tour.
Divisoria Plaza
Plaza Divisoria in Cagayan de Oro
I started the city tour at Divisoria Plaza. This is once the center of commerce in Cagayan De Oro. While the area is still bustling with several business establishments, I think the several big malls in Cagayan De Oro like Limketkai, Centrio and Big R, have overshadowed the once grand past of Divisoria.
Divisoria Plaza is located in the middle of the street and has 4 monuments in each segment. There’s a monument for Ramon Magsaysay, Andres Bonifacio, Justiniano R. Borja, and of course, Jose Rizal. What’s a plaza without a statue of Jose Rizal on it. Only in the Philippines. 😀
Ramon Magsaysay Monument
Andres Bonifacio Monument
Detail of the Andres Bonifacio Monument
Mayor Justiniano Borja Monument
Jose Rizal Monument
I need Spanish Pinay Nanay to translate this.
I was intrigue on who was Justiniano Borja. If you look at the map of Cagayan De Oro City, there is a long stretch of street that bears his name. It was through this monument that I learned Justiniano Borja is a well-loved mayor of Cagayan De Oro City.
Other sights around the Divisoria Plaza are the Xavier University nearby and the marker to commemorate the 100 years of Free Masonry in Mindanao last 2011.
During Friday and Saturday night, the Divisoria Plaza is transformed into a Night Market.
A Playground at Plaza Divisoria
Freemasonry Marker
Xavier University
Gaston Park
My next stop was Gaston Park which was just a few block away from Divisoria Plaza. This area was where I had the most interest with because of the old structures and a museum. From the park, the St Agustine Church, the City Museum and the City Hall is just a stone’s throw away.
The park has a tall and lively fountain in its center. I seldom see fountains like this that are actually working thus I was just in awe. The fountain was simple but seeing it with streams of water up in the air adds up to the flowing energy that CDO has.
Big Fountain at Gaston Park
City Hall
St. Augustine Cathedral
Just across Gaston Park is the St. Augustine Cathedral. This is probably my favorite stop in my city walk at CDO. I love its gothic architecture although this was probably a new and renovated structure already. It looks big in pictures but the interior was not as big as I imagined it to be.
What I was excited to see are the 200-year-old stained glass inside the St. Augustine Cathedral. Upon entering, the stained glasses are located at the left. I had to stop myself from running to take a closer look. The stain glass were beautiful and the morning sunrise casts its rays perfectly from the outside. I could see how rich it was in color and how intricate the design was. I never expected to see such antique art in the Philippines. It felt like I was looking at a work of an Italian Rennaisance artist!
St. Augustine Cathedral in CDO
Interior of St. Augustine Cathedral
Stained Glass at St. Augustine Cathedral
Museums in Cagayan De Oro City
From the St. Augustine Cathedral, I decided it was time to see the museums. But I was very unlucky in this part of my city tour. The closest museum in Cagayan de Oro is just a few steps away from the cathedral. The City Museum of Cagayan De Oro is a small tower and it looks like an old belfry or watchtower. It has an inscription of A.D. MCMXXII which may mean it was built in 1922.
The City Museum opens from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday. It was still closed when I arrived so I decided to move along to the next museum.
City Museum of CDO
Museum De Oro is inside the Xavier University Campus. It was about a 5-8 minute walk from the City Museum. Unfortunately, it was a school holiday and the museum was closed for the whole day. Another museum in Cagayan De Oro is the La Castilla Museum. It is not a walking distance from the other two museums so I had no plans of going there for the day.
Old Houses in CDO
While going back to my hotel, there were old houses around the area that I liked. It reminded me of ancestral houses in Pila, Laguna and Silay, Negros Occidental. But many of these houses were not as grand and not as well maintained.
But here’s a house that caught my attention. It has the old logo of a Shell Gas Station and even have a gas pump with the good old analog meter on it. I wonder if it’s still functional.
The Shell logo still stands at the left.
A gas pump at the backyard.
The whole walk was about 2 hours including the picture taking and some wrong turns to get to the right location. It was just less than 2 kilometers of walking but you would get a memorable walk around Cagayan De Oro City.
It will be nice to get back to Cagayan De Oro and visit the many other places I missed like the museums and great outdoor activities. Aside from the tourist attractions in the city, Cagayan De Oro is also famous for its white water rafting, nature parks and the ziplines.
Grab a marang if you get hungry after the walk. 😀
Your post made me miss CDO. I studied in Xavier University and it has been a long time since my last visit. It was good to see the pix of Divisoria.
correction po, hindi durian ang nasa picture, its called “marang”
Ooops. Sorry for that and thanks for correcting.