Fort Santiago

I've always seen the outside walls of Intramuros when I pass by Lawton in going to school and going home. But now, I had the real glimpse of its inside and most especially, Fort Santiago.

Fort Santiago is located at the mouth of Pasig River and was a defense fortress that is part of the "Walled City" or Intramuros. It became prison cells during the Spanish Colonial Period and World War II. It was also here where Jose Rizal was imprisoned before his execution. As a commemoration to his death, there is the Rizal Shrine and the Rizal Museum that displays the memorabilias of the hero and embedded into the ground in bronze plates are his footsteps going to the actual location of his execution.

As I entered the outside of the walls of the main For Santiago, the place seemed changed and renovated to seem like a park. There were trees, benches, street lights, more benches and more trees. But at the corners of the area, I saw the old houses and some piles of old bombs, a ship anchor and the amazing part was when I saw the walls of the river that almost seemed like a pond because of the stillness of the water.