When I am decided to do this Project 81 the very first province that I wanted to visit is Abra. It was one of the provinces of the Philippines that is not usually a destination to many, thus, few blogs about it. One of the reason why I wanted to visit this is to open this province to many travelers that there is more than the usual destination we saw on facebook. That provinces like Abra has something to offer too when it comes to tourism. With thorough research, I came to never-ending list of tourist spots and by that I know my trip here will never go to waste.

My trip to Abra is supposed to be a whole day trip. But since this trip is backpacking and DIY and with little information about the place (exact time travel from one tourist spot to another) I was able to visit just three attraction of their place.

Holy Wednesday of this year (2016), me and Bella hop in at Dominion Bus terminal going to Abra. Before that, a long queue of passengers are waiting for their time to leave Manila to go elsewhere up North. By 4 in the afternoon I was already on the last line of long queue to get a ticket number for the bus. The operator, given the loads of people coming, assured us that there is enough bus to cover us all. By 7 in the evening, I was able to get a ticket number going to Abra. The only bus left is the De Luxe that leaves at 10:30 pm that costs for about 700 pesos. As far as I remember, the regular price ranges from 400-500. But its okay, I anticipated this scenario and it is totally fine with us.

At exactly 10:30, the bus leaves Manila and I doze-off instantly. Given I just came from 6am-3pm work. The moment I opened my eyes we are already at Ilocos Sur just a few kilometers away from Abra. At around 7 in the morning we arrive at Bangued the capital of Abra.

The very first thing we did is to attend a Mass at Bangued Cathedral to pay our respect, say our thank you for a safe journey and asked for guidance for the rest of our trip.

Bangued Cathedral, St. James The Greater Cathedral is an Augustinian Church that was constructed in the year 1722 and was complete in 1807. This church holds so much history and witness a story and surpasses a bombing by American warplanes ajoining Colegio del Sagrado Corazon that was used as military hospital by the Japanese Imperial Army.

How to get there: From the terminal of Dominion Bus at Abra just walked outside going to the right. If you saw the police station from the left side go to the right and walk straight. The cathedral is on the left side.

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