A Family Trip To Marikina City One Fine Day

I promised myself, to my kids, that we will be experiencing a lot of things and go to many places when we can.  It's the closest thing I...

I promised myself, to my kids, that we will be experiencing a lot of things and go to many places when we can.  It's the closest thing I could do to homeschooling method which other of my mom friends are successfully rocking!  One of the things I want them, myself and hubby counted, is to visit as many places near Manila, which we haven't gone before.  A few Sundays ago, we decided it was Markina City.

My brother lives in Marikina for decades already.  We only go to their part of the world whenever there are parties.  We never really got a chance to explore it.  So finally, after hearing and reading so much good things to see, good restaurants to try, beautiful places to see, we woke up one Sunday morning, prepped ourselves for a city adventure.  Here were five places we visited in Marikina:

Rustic Mornings
I've read awesome reviews about the food and the place in my friends' blogs and when we got there, it wasn't a disappointment at all!  In fact, my optical and oral senses were in its euphoric state!  Here are some of the reasons why:


Food and drinks were hit to our family.  We had coffee, cocoa and silog meals.  They are also reasonably priced!  More about Rustic Mornings in my future post.
Shoe Museum
Just right outside Rustic Mornings is the Shoe Museum.  Markina is known as the shoe capital of the Philippines and for an undoubted reason.  Marikina shoe masters have been producing quality leather shoes for almost half the price of those you see in the mall.  Entrance to the museum is P50.00 for non-Marikina residents and P20.00 for residents of the city. Bulk of the display you'll see here are from the shoe collection of none other than former First Lady of the Philippines, Ms. Imelda Marcos.  More than 700 pairs of her shoes are displayed in the museum.  It was fascinating to see how one could have as many, one style in all colors!  Shoes of former Marikina Mayors and other political figures, of celebrities, and shoes coming from different countries.  The Shoe Museum is located along J.P. Rizal Street and is open everyday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Riverbanks Mall
The main reason why we went here was to score some sale items from the outlet stores.  And so did we! Macky bought shoes for himself and the littler one from Adidas, while Dandre bought his in Nike.  Me?  I went to Japan Homes and bought storage stuff.  Aaack!  I wanted so much to buy, but I need the whole day!  I cannot bear to hear my men hurrying mommy up just because they're done.  Doesn't work that way for women darlings!  So I guess, I'll just visit again some other time, all by myself.  Here are some of the outlet stores you could find in Riverbanks Mall.
New Surplus Warehouse Sale
After tiring ourselves from shopping great sale finds at Riverbanks Mall, we were dead hungry and wanted to try another Marikina's popular restaurant, Cafe Lidia.  So while driving along Calderon Street on our way there, Macky spotted a warehouse of imported surplus on sale to his left.  He immediately parked and asked me to check the items if they were worth the stop-over before our early dinner.  When I saw the items, YES all items were legit surplus and factory-priced clothes!  Brands like Gap, Forever 21, H&M, Nike, Aeropostale, A&F, Zara, and a lot more, for men, women and kids, were all in that warehouse.  After fitting shirt after shirt, after shorts and pants, and what had they, we finally were done for the day's shopping (I say too much shopping!).  Gaaah!  The items were all quality finds at a very low price!  With this, we're hungrier but unlike most food-deprived people who're hot-tempered, we were chillin'-hungry because we got nice stuff for bargain prices!  Winner!

 Cafe Lidia
5 out of 5 people I asked for recommendation where to have dinner in Marikina gave me just one answer: Cafe Lidia.  After Riverbanks and our accidental shopping spree at the branded warehouse store, we were glad to arrive Cafe Lidia a few minutes earlier until it became full house.  It's usually jam-packed with people coming from different places because of its popularity due to their wide range of affordable and delectable food choices.  Their menu consists of: Appetizers, Salad, Pizza, Pasta, Main Entrees, Sandwiches, Desserts and Drinks.  The restaurant has a homey vibe and it was never without customers.  As what written in their website, they didn't spend for any marketing material because after the Ondoy typhoon, they had to experience birthing pains again after re-opening, their well-loved restaurant status is purely because of word of mouth.  I am definitely convinced by the good words spread about them.  I'll be writing a solo post on Cafe Lidia in my next blog entries.
It was a whole day family city adventure.  From morning until after the sun set, we were out and about, so just imagine how exhausted we all got, especially the kids.  But however tired we all got, we had a fun and learning experience.  Marikina City is an admirable place.  It's clean, we didn't see any single trash on the street.  Even after Ondoy, Marikina rose to regain its beauty, its pride, the smiles on its people, and put it back on the map as one of the must-visit cities in Metro Manila.

My husband and I considered transferring to this beautiful and clean city.  We've checked out an apartment for rent in Marikina and it has a reasonable rate.  With Marikina City's booming economic status (oh how we love the liveliness of its food industry!), this is a good city to raise a family.

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2 comments

  1. ate, how much po lahat ng nagastos nyo for that? thank you!!!!

    ReplyDelete
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Mommy Practicality is a home and lifestyle blog that's about positive, informative, 
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