Lipa City discovery tour set
Mention barako coffee and Batangas, especially Lipa City, comes to mind. Historically, Lipa is considered the birthplace of the local coffee industry as one record shows that the first coffee seeds were brought to the Philippines in 1749 by a Franciscan friar who planted them on local soil, while another mentions 1814 as the year when an Augustinian priest first cultivated the crop and propagated it in other communities. Details notwithstanding, Lipa rose to prominence because of coffee planting and, soon, it became a world center of coffee trade.
Lipa is a commercial hub and home to diverse industries, including coffee, cut-flower and tourism. It is also regarded as a Little Rome of the Philippines, being the seat of the archdiocese and a number of seminaries, convents and monasteries.
The Mt. Carmel Monastery is famous as the site of the Virgin Mary’s apparition to a Carmelite nun, accompanied by a shower of rose petals.
The home of the late nationalist Claro M. Recto is also known for its cool climate with its elevation of 1,025 feet above sea level, the third highest in the Philippines after Baguio and Tagaytay.
On Nov. 22, Inscribe Tours takes participants on a Lipa City Discovery Tour with the following itinerary: Café de Lipa for morning refreshments of kapeng barako and suman Batangas; Museo de Lipa; Doc’s Candles; Hotel la Corona de Lipa for a buffet lunch of Batangas cuisine; Papelipa; Milk Joy plant; Mt. Carmel Monastery; and last, Mt. Malarayat Golf & Country Club for an early dinner.
For reservations and early bird rates, call Karla or Gerry at 840–5912, 575 or 8370.
