Here's a fine place that I have been to quite a number of times in the past 5 months. Not that I want to but in all cases "I needed to". And, I have gotten to like this place, I sometimes drop by for a meal or a snack - even a beer or two before dinner! And usually, that's before getting on a flight out of Tacloban.
Patio Victoria can be many things to many people.
There's a bit of history in the place. Well, one of my friends told me, that claim might be bogus...
Then again, there are these National Historical Institute (NHI) markers...
So I would like to believe there must be some credence to it - even if not too accurate...
because the same friend says it might have been at Dio Island, not on this beach...
I did not dare go down there, but my driver says this bunker is only as seen in this photo - not deep
So, this might not be real but just a representation (tableaux?) of what might have been the real thing?
Whatever!
Ah, this one is real - It is an event venue. And my favorite in Tacloban - as such! Why? Because...
The rooms are big - from classroom style or intimate meetings to banquets with hundreds of guests, the place is very good; it has a high ceiling - for an airy feel and nice acoustics; bare flat walls - giving you creative freedom on what to do with your event or function décor; good equipment (audio/video); lovely, restful calming soothing exteriors too - it's a beach resort in the first place! AND...
Far from the city center - so participants can't keep slinking out of the venue to go shopping!
It is a beach resort. Ah eh, well not really. But uhm, yes it is hehe!
Baluarte Beach Resort is the real beach resort, there are day-use cottages (nipa huts) there. However, Patio Victoria sits contiguously just beside Baluarte Beach Resort (even if they have separate gates that are far from each other), sharing the same strip of beach, with no physical barriers between them
because they're owned by one and the same family! Plus, Patio Victoria has cottages similar to those at Baluarte! Plus, you can enter from either facility. Plus, Baluarte has no food nor stores, but you can buy at Patio Victoria and just bring them to your cottage! So, they are 'technically' one and the same!
It is a public (paid) swimming pool by the beach with a restaurant...
Ah well, it can be a restaurant with a (paid) public swimming pool by the beach. O ha?! The restaurant does not have an extensive menu though, but there are at least three dishes I like in this place - fried boneless bangus, lechon kawali and pancit! Ah, btw, if you want something not in their menu, just ask the waiters, they can (usually) whip that up too! Note, half of the pool is indoor - under a roof!
On top of it all, the entire place from outside to inside has this kind of simple, no-frills air, everywhere! Wala masyadong grandiose kaartehan as you would expect from places owned by wealthy families.
Those are the tables-and-chairs of the "restaurant" plus those on the right side of the previous picture above. Technically just poolside tables and chairs, right? But you can use them even if not swimming.
I like this place - mainly for doing nothing but just sitting anywhere looking out to sea!
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