Club Balai Isabel, Talisay’s emerging romantic destination

This is one of my favorite shots taken by hubby. My cousin was standing by the pool at dusk, with the Taal Volcano as backdrop.

Tagaytay City is not the only place where you can get a glimpse of the picturesque Taal Volcano. For a closer view of the Taal volcano and Taal lake, and for a relaxing stay with this view all day, come to Club Balai Isabel. This sprawling resort can be found at Talisay, Batangas, just an hour and a half drive from Manila.

Hotel rooms and excellent amenities

One afternoon, my family and relatives decided to drive up to Club Balai Isabel, coming from our hometown, Sto. Tomas, Batangas. We went there via the Tanauan-Talisay road, a very serene road trip I must say, as the road is not congested with public utility vehicles, as compared with the national highway.

Dock

There’s a wooden dock near the lake shore, with a magnificent view of the Taal volcano. Due to its proximity, Club Balai Isabel has become one of the famous jump-off to take a tour of the Taal volcano. There are also three pools inside the resort, there’s an infinity pool, and two other large pools, perfect for big groups. Of course, water activities are best experienced at the lake shore, where one can go kayaking or ride the jet ski.

Me and mommy, by the Kumintang Pool

Club Balai Isabel also offers e-cart for guests who want to take a free tour of the entire resort (with lots of photo ops).

E-cart

There’s also a chapel inside, the Spousal of Joseph and Mary chape;, as the resort is known as a popular venue for weddings, prenuptial photo shoots, and other romantic events. In fact, you can choose among the wedding themes offered by the resort, whether a garden wedding, traditional wedding at the chapel, or wedding at the lakefront with the Taal volcano as backdrop.. For those who prefer an indoor wedding, there’s an air-conditioned pavilion as venue for weddings and receptions.

Spousal of Joseph and Mary chapel

The resort also has restaurants and cafes. When we went there, we had their famous thin-crust pizzas and brewed coffee at Isabel’s Panaderia & Pizzeria. There’s also a coffee shop by the pool, Kafe Kumintang.

Kafe Kumintang

When we went there, it was just a day tour, as we did not check-in but merely had afternoon snacks and coffee at Isabel’s, then tour of the resort by riding the e-cart. It was just a few hours but my family and relatives had a great time. I was thinking, what more if we stayed there for several days? 🙂 Whether you want to go on a stay-cation or action-packed vacation, then Club Balai Isabel is the place for you. 🙂

Perfect combination: Buko tarts and brewed coffee at Rowena’s Tagaytay

One summery day, after attending hearing at Dasmarinas City, Cavite, instead of going back to Manila, hubby and I decided to go further along the Aguinaldo Highway… Right smack at the Tagaytay Rotunda where Rowena’s Pasalubong and Restaurant is located.

Rowena’s is located at the Hillcrest Plaza near Tagaytay Rotunda. It’s famous for the mini-size buko tarts and other sweet (and salty) pasalubong items. A box of buko tart is the perfect pasalubong for your family and costs PhP180.00. Aside from the buko tart, you can also buy boxes full of apple tarts, ube macapuno tarts, blueberry cheese tarts, and silvanas stored at the store’s fridge.

Rowena’s also have a coffee shop/restaurant adjoined on its pasalubong center, which has a great view of the busy city outside. You can order buko tart, apple tart or other flavors of mini tart which is the perfect combination for a cup of steaming hot coffee. I ordered one piece apple tart that day, which is priced at PhP30.00.

Coffees are also reasonably priced, all below a hundred bucks each.

Perfect combination

The apple tart is really good; it has the same melts-in-your-mouth texture as that of a buko tart. But of course, nothing would beat the sumptuous and not-too-crumbly buko pie as partner for brewed coffee and other strong-flavored coffee. My hubby ordered silvana, which is also a good partner for hot coffee. The silvana is firm and not too sweet.

SIlvanas and apple tart

Interestingly, you can also order what is considered as the most expensive coffee in the world at Rowena’s. The Alamid coffee or the Philippine civet coffee is made much more affordable as you can buy a single pack of Alamid coffee for PhP250.00. I think the the Alamid coffee is contained inside a coffee bag, which is like a tea bag.

Rowena’s is located at Hillcrest Plaza, which has a beautiful lookout point overlooking the Taal Lake. Below is a picture taken by hubby while I was enjoying the view at the lookout point.

 

The “selfie” of my Starbucks-Tagaytay city tumbler

During one of our official trips in Tagaytay City, hubby and I dropped by at Magallanes Square to have coffee at Starbucks and to take a look at the magnificent view found in this particular area. Hubby bought me a Tagaytay city tumbler to add to my Starbucks items collection.

What a selfie!!

This is indeed a great souvenir. 🙂 And of course, the view… Breath-taking, as always.

Going up via Talisay Road and the courts of Tagaytay City

One of the best things that I love about our work is the travel that comes with it. And when I got to handle a land case involving a property in Tagaytay City, then I also got to explore and see the courts found in this literally cool city. 🙂

This is the Hall of Justice of Tagaytay City. This is found along Mahagony Ave., near the famous Mahogany Market. The courts found at the Hall of Justice are the Municipal Trial Courts in Cities. The lone Regional Trial Court of Tagaytay City is situated on another area, at the  Brgy. Kaybagal, which is very much near the Sky Ranch.

I guess we’ll be seeing more of Tagaytay City in the following days to come due to hearings that may be set for our land case. It is refreshing to attend hearings when this is the view that will always greet you.

And of course, this is still the best view when coming up to Tagaytay City… 🙂

Hubby with an up-close view of Taal volcano

The view above is one that we passed by when we went up to Tagaytay City via the Tanauan-Talisay Road (found in Batangas). Friendly advice though, the road that we took is literally not for the faint-hearted, as I myself got so nervous while travelling. Make sure that your driver is very much familiar with the road, as the road is not only steep, there are also sharp curves.

The advantage of traveling via Tanauan-Talisay Road is that you get to pass by the beautiful town of Talisay. When we went there, there were several arches. Our client informed us that the town recently celebrated fiesta (feast) and there was a contest for each town as to who could design the best arch. The price allegedly is half a million. Wow. 🙂

This is one of the arches that we passed by in Talisay, Batangas.

For more Tagaytay posts, click Cavite category found on the right side of the page. 🙂

One chilly January day at Sky Ranch

at the entrance

Last January 8, 2014 was our 2nd wedding anniversary. We didn’t have time to celebrate as I attended two hearings that day, one in Calamba in the morning and one in Manila in the afternoon. But as they say, better late than never. We had a belated celebration of our anniversary three days later at one of our favorite places in the country, Tagaytay City. This is also the first time that we went there as a couple. 🙂

As mentioned, my hubby and I frequented Tagaytay City several times before, but we were both single then. 🙂 This made our trip extra special, since this is our first time to go to Tagaytay together, and also for us to have the chance to visit and experience the Sky Ranch rides. Actually, there is only one ride that I want to try, and that is the Sky Eye, the tallest ferris wheel in the Philippines, with the most fabulous view of the Taal Lake and volcano.

The line at the entrance of the Sky Ranch is very long. It is the weekend after all. But one would not be discouraged with the long line as you would see from afar the huge ferris wheel, the colorful rides, and the seemingly endless blue sky. 🙂

There’s also zipline adventure and we saw this daredevil ride the zipline upside down. 🙂

The entrance fee is PhP100.00, but there’s a 50% off promo when we went there. The other really long line is that one for the rides, as you have to buy tickets for each ride. The ticket for the Sky Eye costs PhP150.00 each.

Once inside the gondola, we noticed that it is not open air. It’s air-conditioned, and there’s a certain quietness while inside the gondola and that unobstructed view of the volcano, the lake, the surrounding provinces of Batangas, Laguna and Cavite.

Inside the air-conditioned gondola.

This is our view of the Sky Ranch while inside the gondola.

View of the Sky Ranch.

It was already late afternoon during our turn to ride the Sky Eye. The view of the sunset and the mountains is really exceptional.

Sunset.

After the ride, there’s that mandatory picture taking in front of the Sky Eye that we have just “conquered”. 🙂

The tallest ferris wheel in the country.

And there’s also that couple selfie with the Taal volcano in the background. 🙂

Taal Volcano from afar.

Ahh, what a wonderful way to celebrate our anniversary. ❤

Sky Eye: The main attraction of Sky Ranch, Tagaytay City

My first post for 2014 would be about Tagaytay City, as hubby and I experienced first-hand how cold it could be on a January. You would see above the Sky Eye, considered as the tallest ferris wheel in the Philippines, which boasts not just its size, but the breathtaking view of the Taal Volcano as well. Expect a series of posts about Tagaytay City, as it’s easy to fall in love over and over again with this city. 🙂