december-2011

Bright
lights,
big city
Smile visits Cebu City to bask in its
new cosmopolitan glow. Story by Tara
FT Sering with Jude Bacalso. Photos by
Caroline Schmidt and Nicolai Svane/
danishconnection.com
THE VIEW from a corner suite at the
Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu offers a
panoramic sweep of the southern city:
the international port, at one point
the lifeblood of the local economy;
the channel that divides the mainland
from Mactan Island, home of the city’s
international airport; and the two
bridges — one old, another new — that
connect both land masses.
Cebu City has always kept in step
with most urban capitals, but perhaps
more than any other in the Philippines,
it’s a city whose biggest draw is in the
graceful manner it keeps to the old and
reaches for what’s modern. These are
the two ways you can experience the
city — as the cultural destination it has
always presented itself in the past (it is,
after all, the country’s early Spanishtime
capital) with trips to historical
landmarks, centuries-old churches and
other heritage sites; or as a vibrant and
dynamic city, blessed with a range of
nearby beaches, with an interesting
and changing way of life.
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