Ivan About Town is not your ordinary travel blog or a compilation of places to visit around the country. It is about Ivan's personal travels and heritage advocacy. This blog was named Best Travel Blog at the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards.
In this article, the author detailed his daytour experience around Taal Lake:
I visited several towns around Taal Lake yesterday. Our first stop was Club Balai Isabel in Talisay, Batangas. It's probably the best residential resort by the lake.
Club Balai Isabel has one of the best views of Taal Volcano. At the moment, many parts are still under construction. But the reception area, club house, and several hotel rooms are already complete and ready to accept visitors. We had lunch there as well and ordered some bulalo, fried tawilis, ginataang kalabasa and fried chicken.
We then headed off to Tagaytay en route to Taal. But we stopped by Bag of Beans to check out their bread shop. I had a chicken and mushroom pie.
As soon as we arrived in the heritage town of Taal, we went straight to the Taal Basilica to check it out. Since we didn't have much time, we made a quick drive around town to check out the wonderful heritage houses.
Although relatively intact, there seems to be a lack of continuity in the town since the new structures stick out like sore thumbs in between the charming heritage homes. The local government should do something about these newer structures.
Our last stop was the Church of Caysasay and the miraculous well of Sta. Lucia also in Taal. We didn't stay too long since we wanted to be back in Tagaytay before dark.
On the way back, we made a stopover at Sonya's Garden. I was tempted to have a meal there since I simply adore their salads and pasta. But we'll have to save that for another day. Dinner was at the garden restaurant of Bag of Beans. Then it was back home for us.
