Cavite City

About Cavite City

At the tip of a hook-shaped peninsula reaching into Manila Bay, Cavite City was once the deep-water harbor that served Manila itself. From the late 16th century Spanish galleons sailed from here to Acapulco, and the walled port town, crowded with churches and convents, earned the nickname Land of Mary Most Holy. It was the provincial capital of Cavite for more than three centuries.

History has been hard on it. The Cavite Mutiny of 1872 broke out in the arsenal of Fort San Felipe, thirteen local patriots were executed here in 1896, and the old port was almost entirely destroyed in the Second World War. Today half of the old town lies within a naval base, but the faith of the city survives in the venerated image of Our Lady of Porta Vaga, painted in 1692, and in a lively November fiesta.

The city's boundaries also take in Corregidor, the island fortress at the mouth of Manila Bay, whose tunnels and ruined barracks tell one of the great stories of the Pacific War. Local kitchens keep Spanish-influenced dishes alive, from Lenten bacalao to sweet bibingka.