Travel San Pablo, Laguna: San Pablo Cathedral Church

Going to San Pablo City, you can never miss San Pablo Cathedral. Built in 1774 by the Augustinians, it has long been a must-see neoclassical architecture found in the very heart of busy San Pablo. We stopped by this historical structure on our way to  Lake Pandin for an eco lunch tour, the cleanest among the seven lakes of San Pablo City.^_^

From afar, you can never miss its inviting high dome and bell tower. There's a plaza on a roundabout just before you enter the church that houses the Philippine Flag as shown in the picture below but we weren't able to go there because of the heavy rain.

Travel San Pablo, Laguna: Lake Pandin eco lunch tour

One Super Rainy Saturday, out of ignorance that the deadly Typhoon Sendong was rampaging through Visayas and Mindanao region and sending neverending rain in Southern Luzon, me and my husband drove off to San Pablo, Laguna.

Home of the San Pablo Cathedral Church and considered one of the oldest city in Laguna. It is most popular for having seven lakes (or pitong lawa) namely:

Lake Sampaloc, Lake Palakpakin, Lake Calibato, Lake Muhikap, Lake Bunot, Lake Pandin and Lake Yambo.

 Although this post will only describe our journey to one of those seven lakes. It is still a worthwhile experience to read about especially if you are planning to pass by San Pablo. I also highly recommend taking the Lake Pandin green rafting experience knowing that supporting this program help preserve the cleanest lake in San Pablo and also brings livelihood to those who live near the lake.

But before I go on detailing about our trip. I think I have to get this off my chest. To be honest, I feel a bit uneasy writing about this particular trip knowing that on the very same day more than 1,000 Filipinos lost their lives because of the flash floods that hit Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, Dumaguete and other parts of Visayas and Mindanao islands one week before Christmas, many are still missing and thousands remain homeless up to this day. It's really heartbreaking to know that many welcomed 2012 in evacuation centers. My prayers goes to all who has experience this terrible tragedy. And, I would like to encourage anybody who is reading this blog to give to Red Cross Philippines. Just click here to go directly to their website.

For Filipinos, I know having the title as the text capital of the world, we can easily extend our donations via sms messaging. Just Text RED<space>AMOUNT to 2899 (Globe users) or 4143 (Smart users). Amount may be 5, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1,000 (Globe users) and 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000 (Smart users). Transaction is free.