Coffee Pods: Single Serving Perfection

Freshly Roasted, Ground And Put Into A Paper Packet

Most coffee lovers will agree that nothing beats the taste of percolated coffee. Especially the wonderful smell when it is brewed first thing in the morning. It is this reason why so many people are turning to the relatively new sensation of coffee pods. The taste of fresh coffee changes considerably from the often used dry instant coffee.

The aroma alone tells you that the coffee is not fresh and therefore you will automatically know that you are not getting the best out of coffee. Most coffee machines are relatively cheap these days and you don’t have to spend a pretty penny just because you want the real taste of coffee. It seems that with ethical issues on the rise most people are opting for the fair trade coffee pods.

People often want to shy away from coffee pods or coffee making machines because they have a concern that it might take too long or is rather expensive. Fortunately these concerns can be viewed as myths as anyone can enjoy freshly ground java.

The convenience and ease of making coffee that is delivered by the coffee pod makes it a must have for all coffee lovers. For the morning rush you can put on a fresh cup using your coffee pods just before you go shower so you can have a fresh cup waiting when you’re done. Automated coffee-making machines are standard equipment in most homes these days. Now you can customize your daily brew to coincide with your mood by taking advantage of single serving coffee makers. They wake you up to the wonderful smell of coffee aromas. So there is no excuse for missing out.

Gourmet Espresso In Coffee Pods

The love of coffee absolutely extends to the wonderful taste of espresso. So it’s clear why so many people are keen on these coffee pods. There are a couple of different types of pods systems out there for you to choose from. The first is the Senseo pod system which uses a single serving, pre-measured coffee filled filter to make the perfect cup whenever you like. Another popular single serving system is Keurig brewing system. Their patented K-cups deliver over 130 varieties of gourmet coffee in less than 60 seconds. Plus there is no mess to clean up. The coffee club fanatics hail the coffee pod and k-cup systems as the greatest invention since coffee machines and it is not hard to see why.

Once you have had a taste of great gourmet coffee, especially espresso coffee, you might find it hard to drink anything else for your morning cup of joe. It can be sometimes hard to get the espresso right as it entails so many components such as water temperature, perfect grind and so on. However with the coffee pods even the most inexperienced coffee maker will perform like a professional. It is not hard to understand why the coffee pods are a hit on the coffee scene in a big way.

For more coffee related articles, recipes, videos and all the best coffee deals, visit www.MustGetCoffee.com/blog.

Digital Scrapbooking – 3 Great Reasons To Start Today!

If you’re a scrapbooker, you owe it to your craft to try digital scrapbooking!

It’s an easy way to expand and enhance your creativity in new and exciting ways. Some traditional scrapbookers are hesitant to “go digital” because it seems so different from what they’re used to.

But don’t fear – scrapbooking digitally, while it might take a little extra time to learn, is well worth the minimal effort. Plus, it’s not as if you have to become an expert digital scrapbooker overnight. Start small by making a simple, small digital photo album, then work your way up to a full-fledged storybook.

1. Saves you time. In the long run, once you learn it, digital scrapbooking will be a great timesaver. You can turn out wonderful looking keepsakes in no time – keepsakes that you’ll be proud to share. And when you do share them, you can email links to your photo creations.

The beauty of digital scrapbooking is that all the resources you need are at your fingertips – literally. And if you want to scan in a special design, poem, writing style or any other embellishment, you can. Then, what you’ve scanned will available to use again and again.

2. Saves you money. Of course, you love paper, scissors and glue scrapbooking. But all three cost money – especially the paper embellishments and albums. And of course, you are just brimming over with creativity, which can also get expensive when you try to bring all your ideas to life.

With digital scrapbooking, all you need is your computer, your photos, some artwork to scan, backgrounds and layouts to work with … and voila, you can have a lovely keepsake for a fraction of the cost! And when you consider the money you’ll save on gas driving to and from the crafts stores – well, that alone may make it worth your while to learn how to scrapbook digitally.

3. You can scrapbook more. Combine Nos. 1 and 2 above and you get to scrapbook more than you ever thought possible! Rather than spending hours on just one paper and scissors scrapbook that has to accommodate a whole vacation’s worth of photos, you can create individual scrapbooks for each person who went on the vacation with you!

Rather than spend time driving from store to store looking for materials, you can simply upload your photos, scan in your embellishments and quickly create a thing of beauty you and others will cherish for a lifetime.

Of course, digital scrapbooking will never replace traditional scrapbooking. No one would want that to happen. The beautiful scrapbooks you create with your own two hands are special, unique and hold an enormous amount of value.

But digital scrapbooking does have its place in the scrapbooking world. And as you learn new techniques and tricks digitally, that’s sure to spark your creativity with your traditional scrapbooking.

So go ahead – give digital scrapbooking a try today. And get ready to be surprised by all the fun you’re going to have!

Matt Smolsky writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

A Digital Photo Album Can Bring A Family Closer Together

The fact is, as families grow older, they tend to grow apart. Brothers and sisters who were once inseparable form families of their own, and don’t see each other nearly as much.

Now, that doesn’t mean they become complete strangers, but it does mean that distance starts to take its toll a bit – especially when a move far away is involved.

Of course, there are a lot of ways to keep in touch. Photo sharing is very popular right now, and will continue to be. But just emailing each other a bunch of photos from time to time just seems hollow when you were so close.

A quick and easy way to keep your connections alive

Try creating a digital photo album. There are a lot of people who are doing this right now, and having a great deal of fun with it. Here’s why:

When you share photos by sending them as an email attachment, it’s sort of like telling someone “Hi.” That’s nice, but it lacks depth and meaning.

But when you send someone a digital photo album, it’s more like you’re asking them to sit and have a conversation with you. What’s the difference? Well, with a digital photo album, you can arrange your pictures in a way that has meaning to whoever you’re sending it to.

Also, with a digital photo album, you can tell the story behind the photos. You can add quite a bit of text, if you like, or you can just include a short comment describing the photo. It’s entirely up to you.

Staying in touch with those you love is so rewarding

The point is to use the album as a way of connecting with the people you love in a new and exciting way. So if you’re brother now lives in Texas with his family and you live in Maine with yours, you can do more than just stay current. You can make sure that your families are in touch every step of the way.

Just think how much more fun the Holidays will be when you see each other. Also, more contact means you are more likely to get together more often.

And even if you don’t live far away from the people you love, a digital photo album is still a fantastic way to stay in touch. Take lots of photos at the next family party, upload them to a photo sharing site on the Internet and then create your album. Then, send it off to family and friends and ask them to make comments, or even add their own photos.

Do that once or twice, and you’ll start a new trend! Before you know it, everybody will be having fun creating digital photo albums to share.

If you don’t feel like you’re creative or have a good photographic ability, don’t fear. Everyone will appreciate your effort and they’ll be really glad you took the time to create an album they can all enjoy.

Plus, they’ll be especially happy that you took the time to keep in touch with them in such a unique and fun way!

Matt Smolsky writes for a variety of websites, including Hoorray, a photo sharing site that offers the quickest and easiest way to build a free online photo album, as well as free online photo storage.

Teaching Kids To Go Green

When it comes to issues like global warming and our environment, having to keep up with “Going Green” can be very overwhelming sometimes. Amongst a culture of hybrid cars, energy efficient light bulbs and recycled furniture it seems that “Going Green” has endless possibilities. People are now more aware than ever when it comes to the environment. People are learning that taking the extra time to recycle their water bottle rather than throwing it away or buying an item that has been made with recycled items even thought it may cost a bit more is making a large impact on saving our environment. With this ever growing movement parents are now given the valuable opportunity to teach their kids how to care for and protect our environment. It is important to teach children about preservation of our planet because they are the ones who will care for it in the future

As you teach your child tasks such as brushing their teeth or tie their shoes laces and other means of caring for themselves you can also start to show your child how to care for our environment as well. Teaching a child at an early age how to recycle and the importance of recycling gives a child an important responsibility that will last them a lifetime. Simple things such as showing your child how to separate plastics, papers and aluminum cans from regular trash can have an immense effect on how a child views the environment. You can also place a small recycling bin in your child’s bedroom along with their regular trash bin to help them remember to recycle.

But don’t bore your child with more dull responsibilities, you want your children to learn and have fun as well, so what better way to teach them through play. Recycled items have been turned into something as unusual as shoes, diapers and furniture, if you can recycle plastics and paper into those things then why not your children’s play toys. Remember the three R’s of recycling

• Recycle

• Reduce

• Reuse

Green Toys has created a line of toys made that are made entirely of recycled items. For instance their 17 piece tea set is made from 100% recycled plastic milk jugs. In creating toys that are made from recycled products there are less green house gases produced and it saves energy, enough energy that equals 3,000 AAA batteries, power a TV for 3 weeks and run a laptop computer for an entire month. That’s a lot of energy!

Green Toys also has a sand castle set for the summertime beach trips or an indoor gardening kit to get your little ones growing to be a green thumb. Both products are made from 100% recycled plastics as well. These toys are fun for kids to play with and as well as toys that help our environment. So help your child learn about our precious environment, and make a choice that helps it too. Now you can also keep on the cutting edge of the “Go Green” movement and become “green” parent!

Alycia Shapiro is co-founder of Sensoryedge, a leading web retailer of educational toys, kids furniture, and classroom rugs.

Attraction Sites Of Hollywood And Los Angeles

Of course, Hollywood is really a land of dreams for its entire visitors. There are numerous sites in this city that helps you to get more familiar with the world of Hollywood and these sites include Universal studio Hollywood, Paramount studios, Farmers Market, Rodeo Drive, Hollywood sing, Hollywood walk of fame, LA Hollywood Theaters and LA Hollywood Streets. If you visit Hollywood California, you’ll probably be witnessing some of your favorite Hollywood celebrities face-to-face live in front of you. And this is how your trip in Hollywood turns out as memorable event in your life. There are numerous places that you can visit in Hollywood, and I has only mentioned some of them in this list below:

Paramount Studios

Universal Studios Hollywood

Hollywood Sign

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Farmers Market

Rodeo Drive

Hollywood Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard

Los Angeles Hollywood Streets

Highland Ave

Pantages Theater

Hollywood Bowl Theater

Los Angeles Hollywood Theaters

Kodak Theater

Grauman Chinese Theater

These are all about the attraction areas in Hollywood, now it’s time to take a glance over the areas of attraction in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, well-known as “City of Angeles”, is a wonderful cultural city perfectly blessed with life 24/7. When you arrive to Los Angeles, you’ll be exploring out a city full of glamour, dreams, and fun. Log Angeles, a city refining enjoyment, is an outstandingly great place where you would like to arrive again and again not just due to the glitz and glamour that the fabulous Hollywood offers but also to experience what it means to be at the sun socked beaches of Venice and Santa Monica Beach. Frankly speaking, there is a lot in this original Toon-Town, offering you more than you ever demanded. Downtown is the heart of Los Angeles city and is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of ocean and edged in by the I-5, I-10 and US 101.

There are numerous places you can visit while having a trip in Los Angeles. I’ve traced down a couple of them in a list below:

Los Angles zoo

Disneyland

LAX Airport

Los Angeles Convention Center

Burbank Airport

LA Staples Center

California Los Angeles Studios

NBC

CBS

Warner Bros. Studio

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Venice Beach

Santa Monica Beach

Los Angeles California Beaches

UCLA

USC

Los Angeles California Universities

If you want then you can easily visit these all beautiful sites and have a lot of fun enjoying your vacation in these sites with your partner or with your family. You can easily access the entire required informative details regarding the rooms, accommodation, booking, facilities, and other necessary details of your chosen Hollywood and Los Angeles Hotels. Keep in mind, you require a lot of consideration while choosing a Hollywood or Los Angles Hotel because if you’ll be able to find out the most comfortable hotel in Hollywood and Los Angeles area, then only you can ensure that your stay is going to be much more enjoyable and relaxing throughout your business or vacation trip.

Los Angeles is a famous vacation spot. If you end up moving to L.A., you can shop for Los Angeles Car Insurance by reading reviews from other users. For advice on car insurance, please speak to an expert.

York Bridges

The walled city of York is known for its rich history and heritage. It has been in existence for almost 2000 years and has been a witness to the most important events in the development of England.

If you are planning to visit this city, there is a long list of interesting sites that you can visit. There are castles, museums, abbeys, gardens, and a lot more. The bridges that connect York are also very fascinating since the city is a confluence of the Ouse River and the Foss.

There are 9 bridges in York. You can trace some bridges that were built during the Roman and olden times. There are also bridges which serve as symbols of linkages in the modern era. Here are some of the most notable bridges of York:

Ouse Bridge

The Ouse Bridge was originally built by the Romans but was replaced during the time of the Vikings in 1154. The wooden bridge built by the Vikings collapsed during a gathering of a big crowd who welcomed St. William of York from his exile.

Ouse Brige was rebuilt with stones but this was crashed by the winter floods of 1565. The bridge was repaired to feature an 81-ft central arch which was compared to the Rialto in Venice. The modern Ouse is a structure completed in 1821 which follows the design of Peter Atkinson the Younger.

Scarborough Railway Bridge

This was the second bridge built across the River Ouse. It was completed in 1845 to support the railway transporting locals between York and Scarborough. The pedestrian lane was originally in the middle of the tracks until it was moved to the south side in 1875 when the track was raised 4 feet.

Lendal Bridge

The Lendal Bridge connects the York Railway Station to the York Minster. It was built in 1863 to replace the rope ferry service crossing the river. The bridge is adorned with Gothic features and designed with towers at both ends namely the Barker Tower and the Lendal Tower.

Skeldergate Bridge

The Skeldergate served during the 19th century. The bridge which connects the York Castle area and the Baile Hill can be raised to let the ships pass across the Ouse.

Millennium Bridge

This £4.2 million bridge was built to enhance the lifestyle of the community. Aside from connecting Fulford to the Butcher Terrace, the structure has walking paths, bicycle lanes, and a shelf which acts as a meeting place of people. The Millennium was opened in April 10, 2001 and has shortened the walk for students who previously had to traverse Skeldergate Bridge to get to the University of York.

Naburn Railway Bridge

The Naburn Bridge used to support the York-Selby railway until it was moved in the mid 1980’s. It is also known as the Fisherman Bridge because of the mammoth metal sculpture of a fisherman resting on top. The sculpture is a contribution of the York program for Creative Communities.

Clifton Bridge

The first Clifton Bridge was designed to accommodate the extra traffic during the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Kent held at the York Minster. In 1963, the bridge was made permanent using around 4000 tons of concrete and tons of steel.

Traverse through these bridges, and somehow have a glimpse of the history of York full of its local color and tradition.

For accommodation in York please visit: Quality Hotel York | Ramada Hotel York | Holiday Inn York

Words of Wisdom For New Parents - What Your Child Really Wants in a Home

When you welcome a new child into your family, it is an exciting time. Parents usually spend a great deal of resources - time and money - to prepare for the new family member.

As someone who has been parenting for over two decades and has watched my children grow from tiny babies to productive adults, I can understand that any helpful words of wisdom for new parents need to be about more than just which stroller to buy.

My children can tell you that it is not the toys or furniture or gadgets that got them to where they are today. It was the values in our home. Here are a few of the most important values that we used in our family.

- Stability.

Stability is a value that is in short supply these days. There was a time when families often lived in the same home for years and kids attended the same schools from start to finish. A community provided stability just by being there. Those days, for the most part, are gone.

We moved a few times when our kids were growing up and they had to learn to deal with those realities. A lot of that training was good for them, although difficult at the time. As parents, we learned that it was up to us to provide a home of stability for our kids because the externals in our lives were quite transient.

So we focused on making our marriage strong, so the kids could depend upon our relationship together. We focused on nourishing long term friendships so the kids would have stable adult relationships to relate to as they grew. We committed to choosing a church community we could be a part of for years and years. When the kids developed healthy friendships that supported our family values, we made sacrifices so that the kids could maintain those friendships as long as possible.

- Respect.

Cultivating respect in a home means cultivating long term benefits. Want to have teens that will listen to you someday? Develop a respectful homelife now.

Being respectful to your spouse and earning his or her respect in return is one of the best things you can do for your marriage, too. And the best thing you can do for your kids is to nurture your marriage.

Teach your kids how to earn respect. Listen to them and honor their opinions. Then be the leader in your home and make the decisions that will take the best care of your family, whatever sacrifices you need to make. When your kids see that you put your family above your own self interests, they will know they can trust you. And the respect will follow.

- Kindness.

Kids argue. Parents bicker. Being a part of a family means learning how to handle day-to-day conflicts and frustrations. The family is the training ground for being human.

Your kids WILL learn something in your family, the question is, WHAT will they learn? It’s easy to be sloppy with relationships; it’s more difficult to be intentional. Make it a priority in your household to practice random kindnesses. This will smooth out a lot of the daily angst that naturally arises in a family.

You can do simple games such as requiring that family members do two acts of kindness for every act of hurt, whether intentional or accidental. It gets people thinking in terms of being good to each other. It helps people think twice before they’re careless with one another. It just works.

As you begin down the rewarding path of parenting, remember these words of wisdom for new parents. Focus on filling your home with stability, respect and kindness and watch your family flourish.

Colleen Langenfeld has been parenting for over 27 years and helps other moms enjoy mothering more at http://www.paintedgold.com . Visit her website and grab more words of wisdom for new parents today.

Parenting – When Does the Responsibility Start and When Does it End?

Parenting is the raising and nurturing of children in a way that empowers them to lead a better, safer and secure life. But when does the responsibility of the parent actually start? And when does it really end?

In my opinion, the responsibility starts before the birth of the child. In fact, it starts even before the conception! And the shocking reply to the second question is – it never ends!

When you give birth to a child, it is important that you are physically, financially and mentally prepared to take responsibility of its rearing. You should be confident that, under the present given circumstances, and taking into account your future circumstances as you foresee them, you will manage to nurture your child at least to the point that you can take care of their physiological, social, educational and security needs.

Once you’re fully prepared, your parenting responsibility moves to the next stage – after conception and before birth. The mother should not smoke or drink during pregnancy, it adversely affects the child. This could be to the extent of being physically or mentally retarded (or both). If the father smokes, it is important not to smoke when his wife is around. This means that she should stay away from all smokers – passive smoking is almost as dangerous as active smoking. Taking care of one’s own mental and physical health, avoiding stress, having an overall good mood and being in a happy state of mind, etc are some of the things a mother should do during pregnancy. In fact, it is said that the mother’s environment is 100% responsible for the child’s values, even before birth. This includes the music she listens to, the movies that she watches, her thoughts, etc.

Next comes the stage just after the birth of the child. I will purposely skip this section as this information is very common and you can easily get it by searching on google. You will also find this information at http://www.bharatbhasha.com/parenting.php

During parenting, parents play different roles of life which include but not limited to:

Policeman: You need to analyze when it is right to let the child have its way and when you should firmly put your foot down. It is all about balance and socio economic conditions. Give some freedom when required but deny something that is not good for him / her. This does not necessarily have to be similar to a policeman’s behavior, but you can lovingly make the child understand what is good for him and what isn’t.

Friend: More often than not, children trust their friends more than their parents. If you can be “that friend”, you can be assured that the child won’t hide anything from you, much less, do something against your wishes. If you’ve created that attitude from its early understanding stages, you shouldn’t have a problem in accomplishing this goal.

Detective: Yes, you need to keep a hawk’s eye on your child. And at times, it may even be necessary to contract a real detective if you suspect the whereabouts of your child. While some parents do not agree to this on the pretext that they trust their children, I will still agree to it. You can trust the child but you cannot trust the environment, your child’s friends, and the overall things that try to change or manipulate the thoughts, the feelings, the attitude and the general outlook on life, of your child. If you do not believe me, trying answering this question and see for yourself:

Have you trained your child to the point that they can easily understand when someone is trying to persuade / manipulate them to do something which is wrong, and they are completely fulfilled when it comes to all of their physiological needs, their social needs, their need to feel needed, their need to be noticed and felt understood, their need to be right, and their need to have a sense of power?

If even one of these is missing, it means that you need to keep a check on his / her belongings, conversations, behavior, attitude, spending, etc, even if you don’t like to. If you can afford a big allowance and you want him / her to enjoy it, at least make it a point to keep track of the expenses.

Due to limited space, I will have to end this article here. Do remember – your responsibility of parenting continues even after the child grows up, finishes school, finishes college, gets married, and has his own children. The most dreaded words that a parent fears to listen (but many have to listen) are “If you can’t take care of me, why did you give birth to me?” For some more great and free parenting information, do visit http://www.bharatbhasha.com/parenting.php.

Nirjara Rustom moderates the parenting tips section of http://www.bharatbhasha.com at http://www.bharatbhasha.com/parenting.php. The content here is free to read, so do check it out.

Dumaguete : A Must See Place in the Philippines

Dumaguete City a city know for its hospitable and warm people, an booming economic center and tourist attraction and the center of learning in the south.

Wanting to visit a city that is like no other? A city that is not like manila or cebu a little smaller but just as fabulous? Then you might want to try visiting Dumaguete City. It is the largest city of negros oriental and also the capital seaport.

The people here are called Dumaguete?os popularly known for their hospitality and friendship and well gentleness. Dumaguete City is then considered ‘a city of gentle people’.The term Dumaguete came from the word ‘daggit’ and ‘dumaguet’ because of the muslim attacks on the city and ‘dumaguet’ bacause of the power of the natives to captivate its visitors.

Dumaguete is the smallest in terms in land area among the 20 provinces and 5 cities here in negros oriental considering it is the capital city. it is bounded by the municipality of sibulan to the north and the municipality of Bacong to the south. But lets not go there shall we?

The economic status of the Dumaguete city has been influenced by business process outsourcing and other industries. Major examples of these are the companies Teletech, a call center firm and SPi, one of the worlds leading BPO companies. these two firms are one of the largest ITES firms operating here in Dumaguete.

The city is also a tourist attraction, and the upsurge of tourists flood Dumaguete annually for the annual fiesta’s, the Silliman founders day and the likes. The boulevard also pose as one of the best tourist attraction site here in Dumaguete, with its magnificent view of the Mindanao sea and the local shops, and restaurants fronting the sea. Dumaguete is just a piece of the big cake when it comes to local wonders and travels spots in Negros Oriental.

If one is interested to visit the mountains, jungle perhaps one can visit forest camp located up high in Valencia were u could just relax away from city life. If u want a more exhilarating experience u can go to Lake Balinsasayao and experience the beauty of the jungles untouched by man. I bet one will remember his/her experience when he/she visits the city.

Dumaguete is not just a tourist attraction, it is also a progressive universty city with. Considered the central learning center of the south, dumaguete city boasts university of prestigious honor like silliman university. One of the first american built university in asia. Different races, different languages come to Dumaguete to study, take for example koreans who come here to study english and iranians who do the same. Other universities like St. Paul University ,Negros Oriental State University, and Foundation University takes it respective titles as part of the university city.

So basically Dumaguete is a cool and nice place to visit. The people are warm the attractions are nice (you got to love Dumaguetenas) and it only take what 10 minutes drive from the airport? Do why not visit Dumaguete? The colorful history of Dumaguete contributes to why it is a must go to place in the map, and im confident to say u wont be wasting your time for nothing.

Peter Garant is writing Philippines Travel Articles for both Dumaguete Info and Dumaguete Board.

A Jewel in the Center of the Philippine Archipelago

Iloilo was once named Irong-Irong or Ilong-Ilong because of the repose between the Iloilo River and Batiano River that seemingly forms an angle of the nose, thus the name that means nose-like. Iloilo City used to be known as the Queen City of the South because of its beauty and flourishing economy. It was historically one of the major producers of sugar, copra, bananas and sugar. Currently, rice is the major crop in Iloilo.

Iloilo City has a very strategic location right in the center of the country’s archipelago. Because of its accessibility, Iloilo allows for trade and commerce provisions from both ends of the country. It is approximately 288 miles from Manila. By plane it takes about 45 minutes and 18 hours by boat from Manila. Its total land area is approximately 56 sq. km with mountain ranges that peak at almost 7,000 feet between Iloilo and Antique on the west and Capiz on the north. It has two main seasons with the rainy season from June to September and the dry season from October to May. Its main language is Hiligaynon or Ilonggo.

Iloilo is also best known for their native delicacies such as pinasugbo, piaya, their dried fishes, pancit Molo from the Molo district, and La Paz Batchoy from the La Paz district. For souvenir items, Iloilo offers a wide range of antiques, handicrafts, art pieces and some of the finest embroideries. For outdoor escapades, visit Iloilo’s various landmarks. Molo Church is just 3 kilometers from the city proper and known as the church that Jose Rizal visited on his way to his exile in Dapitan. The Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral is the seat of the Jaro Archbishopric for Western Visaya. It also houses Lady of Candles, whom the Ilonggos consider miraculous. Distrito Jaro showcases old colonial houses of sugar barons and other Hispano-Filipino elites. Calle Real in downtown Iloilo is a part of the old city. Walk along the streets and take in the architecture of old buildings constructed during the Commonwealth era. The Museo Iloilo houses many of Iloilo’s cultural heritages. Muelle Loney is the river port of Iloilo, which is considered to be the safest harbor in the province.

Iloilo City is also known for its Dinagyang Festival that is celebrated annually during the fourth week of January. It was in 1521 that the roots of the Dinagyang Festival may be traced. The people of Iloilo celebrate this festival because of their devotion to Se?or Santo Ni?o. Historically, the image of Santo Ni?o was given to Queen Juana, wife of King Humabon of Cebu, as a gift when she was baptized by the Spaniards. From then on, the Catholic faith and devotion to the Child Jesus flourished in the area. The festival itself was officially launched in 1977, with the term Dinagyang coined by Ilonggo writer and radio broadcaster Pacifico Sumagpao Sudario. Dinagyang is celebrated with street dancing where audience participation is encouraged. The street revelry represents offerings and prayers to Se?or Santo Ni?o, with the quick beating of the drums and thundering shouts of, “Viva Se?or Santo Ni?o” and, “hala bira” from the different tribe members.

The Paraw Regatta Festival is yet another reason for visiting Iloilo City. This annual boat race is a tribute to the legend of the early Bornean settlers in the area, which officially started in 1973 by the Department of Tourism. The Paraw Regatta festival is usually celebrated during the summer month of April. This festival commemorates the coming of the ten Bornean datus who fled the dictatorial rule of Sultan Makatu?naw and became the first settlers in the area. During the Para Regatta, the Iloilo Strait becomes a muti-color sea of sailboats. The sailboats are expected to travel a total of 36 kilometers with 5 points in Iloilo City and Guimaras island.

The city is now moving towards revitalizing socio-economic growth with the coming of new investment and industries in the area with the aim of regaining its title as the Queen City of the South.

Peter Garant is writing Philippines travel articles for his site about Boracay.

Next Page »