THE RUINS of the past glamour

(re-blog and updated from iloilocityoflove.blogspot.com)

It was a summer break we all have been waiting for, and our destination before this golden moment ends was Bacolod City, a city known for its sugarcane plantations and its festival, the Masskara..

though we didn't have an itinerary, on my mind there's this one place i'd like to visit..the place was called "The Ruins" located in Talisay City, just minutes away from Bacolod City.. this was so-called because basically it is in ruins.. only the foundation of the mansion was left.. so without any knowledge on how to get there and without a car to travel with, we hailed a taxi cab from Robinson's Place and told the driver (while asking for directions from my friend through the cellphone) where we want to go.. unfortunately the driver was not familiar with the place and we missed the place where we are suppose to turn..but we have to go another way because the one where the place was usually accessed through (the road beside the Honda Cars showroom) was being repaired..so we have to go by Octagon Village and Rose Lawn Memorial Park in Brgy. Bata, Talisay City. (You could ask the driver to proceed to Bata Pepsi Bottling Plant, and then to turn east. About 600m you will see a big sign saying "This way to the Ruins" and will enter a narrow street which leads to Rose Lawn Memorial Garden.)

gosh! for awhile, as the cab leaves the end of the village, i thought we were transported back to the scene of the "Maruja" movie..to get to the place you would be driving on a long stretch of road with expansive sugarcane fields in both sides! what was scary was there was no house in sight, save for those near the mansion! but no worries for it was nearing midday and the sugarcane were not that enough for a crime to take place.. hehehe

 

the mansion charges 30php for an entrance fee, for them to help maintain the place...at that same day, the place was being prepared for a wedding later that night (the place is a popular venue for pre-nuptial photo shoots and receptions).. and i think i prefer to come another day if given, but we were not staying that long in the city.. (We visited the place in 2010. As I was browsing the web, entrance fee was raised to Php 50)

the place was breathtaking..you could imagine how glamorous and grandeur the inhabitants of the place back then.. the mansion was just magnificent, with its manicured lawns equally as well..it feels like i'm on the "Sara: ang Munting Princessa" movie..and there was a fountain too! the mansion was built during 1900s by sugar baron  Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson for his first wife, Maria Braga, a Portuguese from Macau..the mansion was burned to prevent the Japanese army in turning it into their headquarters..

outside view of the Belvedere

one of the main attraction of the mansion is the "belvedere" which, as the post inside the house says, "affords the family a beautiful view of the sun and the coastal waters in a glassed-in sunroom with bay windows".. now imagine yourself doing that everytime!

 

the Ruins also boasts of an 18-hole mini golf course at the back..a cafe which offers Meditteranean dining, and a souvenir shop is located inside the structure...a "Simborio" is located outside the compound, which is the chimney for the muscovado sugar mill of the family.

grand side entrance

curtains for the wedding

HOW TO GET THERE:

Visit poortraveler.net for a more comprehensive direction.

Email:
ruins@theruins.com.ph

Contact Number:
(+63 34) 476-4334
(+63 917) 832-6003

For more contact information, please visit The Ruins official website.