PHILIPPINES: An educational tour at Balay Negrense (ancestral house/museum) in Bacolod City

Here’s a 4-day itinerary for an awesome visit to the City of Smiles! Day 1: Bacolod City (of Smiles), Manokan Country, Baywalk, Pope John Paul II’s tower. Day 2: Mambukal Resort, The Ruins, ChinaTown, Bacolod City Hall, Provincial City Hall, SM City Bacolod. DAY 3: Alijis, Panaad Park and Stadium, Bong-Bong’s Pasalubong, Hinigaran. DAY 4: Balay Negrense, El Ideal Bakery, New…

PinayOdyssey

19/05/2015

2–4 minutes

Here’s a 4-day itinerary for an awesome visit to the City of Smiles!

Day 1: Bacolod City (of Smiles), Manokan Country, Baywalk, Pope John Paul II’s tower.

Day 2: Mambukal Resort, The Ruins, ChinaTown, Bacolod City Hall, Provincial City Hall, SM City Bacolod.

DAY 3: Alijis, Panaad Park and Stadium, Bong-Bong’s Pasalubong, Hinigaran.

DAY 4: Balay Negrense, El Ideal Bakery, New Silay.

The Balay Negrense, or Negrense House, was originally the ancestral house of Victor Fernandez Gaston, a French man who married a Filipina from Batangas and settled in Bacolod with his 12 children in the 19th century. My sister and I didn’t miss the chance to visit the ancestral house and get a glimpse of how an upperclass family of mixed races lived before their house was turned into a museum.

Victor Gaston lived in the house with his family until his death. According to sources, he was a sugar baron, learning the craft of the sugar cane industry before relocating to the Philippines. When he died, the house was abandoned and then later on donated to a group of concerned Negrenses. Through the help of generous individuals and the Department of Tourism, the house was repaired and transformed to a museum. It was inaugurated on October 6, 1990. More about its history here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balay_Negrense.

There’s a nice garden in the front yard. We’ve read somewhere that an old man has been hired to look after the house and the garden. To be honest, the air felt eerie during our visit. It felt like reliving the past.

On the first floor we found the living room, an old piano, an office, and the dining and kitchen area. The house also has a basement with a very low entrance. All the stuff on display could be considered antiques, serving as witnesses to everything there was, is, and to be in the old ancestral house.

A dining table filled with porcelain kitchen wares

The super creepy basement — The creepy basement

The house was made of concrete, but the floors were wooden. On the second floor, we saw the bedrooms, some tables, old photographs, old bathrooms, and exhibitions of old-style dresses.

The ceilings were high, and the windows big and spacious. Here’s the view from the second floor:

My sister agreed that this visit was both educational and very interesting. And this entry wraps up my trip to Negros Occidental in 2013.

And before we flew back home, we made sure to visit the El Ideal Bakery. It’s popular for its delicious bread, cakes and pastries. Another option for take-home pasalubong would be Bong-bong’s. We managed to bring three small boxes of pasalubong on the plane.