Friday, October 5, 2012

Walking Tour in the Tsinelas Town of Laguna

The statue of Gat Tayaw as a welcome mark to Liliw.
Liliw is a little known town in Laguna located in the foothills of Mount Banahaw. This verdant small town was featured in local TV commercial of a detergent bar where women are washing clothes in the river banks. The town is also the home of vast forest lands inhabited by different species of plants and animals. Today, some of its forest land converted into residential areas. Therefore, Liliw is one of the ecotourist spots in southern Luzon because of its beautiful sceneries such as the lush meadows, verdant and tall mountains and the crystal-clear waters flowing from Banahaw.

Based on a legend, Liliw was named after Gat Tayaw, the datu of the town heard a sound of the bird in a bamboo pole, saying "liw, liw, liw." During the American colonization period, the name of the town was Lilio in order to have a proper pronunciation. The town was officially called "Liliw" in 1965.

The town is known as "Tsinelas Capital of Laguna" (Footwear Capital of Laguna) where it rivals of the shoe industry of Marikina City. There are lots of slippers, sandals, alpombra and shoes which are colorful and in good quality. These footwear are made of raw materials and designed with colorful and creative decorations. Aside from the fact that it is a home of footwear, the town is also popular for its local delicacies and sweets such as uraro (arrowroot cookies), polvoron, espasol, otap and lambanog (local wine made of coconut).
A large wooden sandal which can be seen from above.
Natives from Liliw are proven to be creative because they can create huge sandals in their stall
which earned the town's title "Tsinelas Capital of the Philippines."
If you go around the town proper, you can enjoy the Filipino market scene because there are lots of local products sold from slippers, local delicacies up to fruits. You can also see the huge slippers in each stall and in Gat Tayaw Park. Just a walk away from the park, you can visit the St. John the Baptist Church. This Baroque church was built in 1605 and one of the Spanish era churches in the Laguna Loop. It is made up of bricks and one of the churches to visit during Visita Iglesia in Laguna. You can also enjoy excursion in Liliw through its clear rivers, lush forests and clean ambiance of the town.

The sturdy and colorful slippers and sandals of Liliw. (Matibay pa ang mga tsinelas na yan!)
Lots of delicacies for a sweet tooth.
Saint John the Baptist Church in Liliw, Laguna.
From Liliw leading to the next town...
How to get to Liliw, Laguna:
  • You can take a jeepney from Sta. Cruz, Laguna to Liliw, passing the towns of Pagsanjan and Magdalena which lead you to the town proper. Also, you can ride a jeepney from San Pablo City to Liliw, passing the towns of Rizal and Nagcarlan.
You can also read my December 2011 post: Navigating Laguna Loop - Liliw

Date of Travel: October 30, 2011  and November 6, 2011

15 comments:

  1. nice kapatid...

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  2. Let's do this next year, shall we? We'd love to see you in person.. at ng masamahan mo din kaming maglibot ng Liliw. And yes, go ako sa challenge! :)

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  3. Lots of choices, wish to visit Laguna in due time. Tsinelas shopping galore, the place to be!

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  4. I have lots of friends at Liliw. madalas din ako riyan. Masarap maligo sa batis, ang lamig ng tubig.

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  5. There's so much to visit in Laguna. I wish I had time to visit all those places.

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  6. ♪♪Mang Kulas pabili nga ng tsinelas...♪♪ Kung walang benta si Mang Kulas, pwedeng-pwede sa Tsinelas town ng Laguna.... :D

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  7. Wow. The footwear are really neat, I hope they are sturdy as well as cheap! Moreover, I would also like to taste the pastries and the food of Laguna!

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  8. If ever me and hubby visit Laguna, we'll surely visit Liliw. I have fascination with footwear and sandals alike. :)

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  9. wow your very lucky! I live in lguna province but never get to have a chance to explore this amazing places! xx

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  10. I had only been to San Pedro Laguna. I hope next time I can go farther and see this place =)

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  11. I wonder if their tsinelas is as tough as my spartan. :D

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  12. Ang ganda naman ng church photo. Very historical..

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  13. My sister and I would love to visit Liliw and buy many pairs of tsinelas. We have tested their sandals and it is really tough!

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  14. I've never been to this place in Laguna but I used to have slippers made from Liliw. They are really quality foot-wears.

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  15. FM and I chanced upon that church by accident when we went on a tour. It wasn't part of it e. Ang ganda no?

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