My one day affair with Nueva Ecija

I live in Nueva Ecija, specifically Gapan, during the weekdays but I’ll have to admit that I have already toured other provinces before I’ve got the chance to know Nueva Ecija more. It happened one Philippine Independence Day (June 12, 2013), when I have decided to have a historical tour around one of the provinces represented by the 8 rays of the sun in the Philippine flag.

Because 2013 Independence Day happened to be Wednesday, the middle of the week, I decided not to go home in San Jose del Monte and just spend my holiday in Nueva Ecija. I woke up very early that day so that my Nueva Ecija town hopping may cover as many towns as possible.

My original Nueva Ecija itinerary (from GoogleMaps)

My initial itinerary for the day is (as shown above, from Gapan City) : Cabanatuan City, Palayan City, San Jose City, Science City of Munoz, Talavera and San Isidro. I did not include Gapan because I have already toured it and will be posting a separate post for it.

I first visited Cabanatuan City. By making a walking tour around the old capital of Nueva Ecija, I was able to visit its City Hall, the Cabanatuan Cathedral, the Antonio Luna monument (built at the exact place where he was assassinated), the Old Nueva Ecija Capitol, the Freedom Park, and the century-old Nueva Ecija High Scool.

From Cabanatuan City, I went to Palayan City next, Nueva Ecija’s Capital since 1965. I was able to see there the newly completed Nueva Ecija Provincial Hall as well as the Palayan City Hall. Palayan City by the way is true to its name: “Palayan (farmlands)” and “bukid” and wide expanse of both tilled and untilled land can be found in both sides of the road.

Wide expanse of land in Palayan City

Flat lands seen on the way to Bongabon from Palayan City

After Palayan comes the departure from my prepared itinerary. Instead of going back to Cabanatuan so that I may already go to San Jose, I go straight to Bongabon because I found out that vehicles from Cabanatuan passing in Palayan City go straight to Bongabon. I felt excited then because it’s another of those unexpected twists in my townhopping adventures.

In Bongabon, a short walking tour brought me to the century-old but renovated Bongabon Church, the town plaza, the old Bongabon Municipal Hall as well as the new one. From Bongabon, I chartered a tricycle to bring me to Rizal. In Rizal, I was able to visit the Rizal Church, its market and Municipal Hall.

Rizal Town Church

From Rizal, I then go to Pantabangan. I was actually hoping to visit the Pantabangan old church but I was not successful in finding it. I also would want to visit the Pantabangan dam but the time and the lack of knowledge how to reach it didn’t permit me. Instead, I visited the new Pantabangan Town church (though it has the old bell dating back to 1843). I also got to see the newly built Pantabangan Town Hall.

Pantabangan town proper

From Pantabangan, I got back to Rizal and from there I rented a tricycle which brought me to San Jose City proper. In San Jose City, I’ve got the chance to visit the huge San Jose Cathedral, the seat of the diocese of San Jose which oversees the northern part of Nueva Ecija. I also did a short walking tour which brought me to the city's small commercial district as well as the San Jose city hall.

San Jose Cathedral

From San Jose, I then went to the Science City of Munoz, famous for housing many different government agencies dedicated to scientific studies. I also visited Munoz’ city hall and church and had a running tour on the stretch of Maharlika High-way passing through the city. After Munoz comes the last town that I had visited that day, Talavera.

Talavera Town Church

Talavera has many things to offer. For one, the design of the town proper including its municipal hall, the town church, the town gym and the small aviary and mini zoo makes it a beautiful place to visit. I spent the rest of the afternoon in this place.

At the end of the day, it was evident that my itinerary was changed... for the better. I might not be able to visit the town of San Isidro but in exchange, I was able to visit three more: Bongabon, Rizal and Pantabangan. I thought, I will be able to visit San Isidro next time because it was just adjacent to Gapan, and very easy for me to reach. The map below shows my final itinerary:

All in all, my Independence day has been a fun day. This is one affair I will never forget... :)

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To know more about my One day affair with Nueva Ecija Tour, you may visit the following (to be posted later):

A walking tour on Historic Cabanatuan
A short visit to Palayan City

Exploring three Eastern Nueva Ecija towns : Bongabon, Rizal, Pantabangan

San Jose and Munoz : Visiting Nueva Ecija's Northern Cities

Unexpected beauty : Talavera