Published on Nov, 2023
This is a good tour at a good price. (Our cruise wanted to charge quite a bit more for a group tour.) Aimee was a fantastic guide. She is knowledgeable, funny, & relates a lot of interesting info in a conversational way. Aimee was at the port exit when we got there with my name on a sign.
Travel to the memorial is by van with only the driver, guide, my husband & l. (No carriage ride included.) The traffic is terrible so the trip there & back to the other sights takes a while. Aimee will Tailor the trip to accommodate your interests so you can spend more time at the sights that interest you most. Once at the memorial and in the old town it is a walking tour, then a van ride back to the ship.
I found the memorial moving, the mosaics are impressive, and the museum educational for those who don't know their WW2 history.
The old church was impressive inside & the attached halls house a lot of religious artifacts (not really my cup of tea), but the ornate embroidery, pipe organ, & the medicinal naturalist room were worth a closer look (for me).
Casa Manila has quite ornate donated furnishings including an actual treasure chest from the colonial period and Aimee explained how things were done or used back then (the building has no plaques describing things).
Just so you know, some of what you will see in the old part of town has been recreated after Manila was mostly leveled in WW2, but that doesn't make it less interesting to me.
Overall, it was a great tour! Thanks, Aimee!