One will never know what it is like to be a Filipino until one has visited historic Vigan. I have lost count of the many times I have traveled to Vigan, but my enthusiasm for this charming town has never waned. This Christmas 2008, my visit is tinged with nostalgia because I am traveling only with my three granddaughters, whose last visit was 7 years ago. About 400 kilometers from Manila is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Vigan. On 2 December 1999, this historic town was inscribed in the World Heritage List as the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia with a unique European atmosphere. In the Philippines, it is the oldest surviving Spanish colonial city in the Philippines. On the first day of our Christmas holiday tour, we revisited several landmarks and interesting places around the town on a horse-drawn calesa: the old Bantay Church and its famous belltower, the Pagburnayan (stone jar-making factories), the Hidden Garden in a remote barangay, Crisologo Museum, and the old streets in Mestizo District leading to Plaza Burgos and Plaza Salcedo.