The Chronicle’s Mark Bel-lune traveled to Cebu, Philippines recently to see a friend from Lexington. He learned much of the history and culture of the nation of islands in the Pacific — living with local people for 2 weeks. This is a continuing series.

A fter our visit to the Museum of Cebu and Fort

San Pedro, we headed to the Basilica of Santo Niño and Magellan’s Cross.

According to Wikipedia, the church was founded in 1565 and is the oldest Roman Catholic church in the country. It was built on the spot where the image of the Santo Niño de Cebú was found during the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi.

The icon, a statuette of the Child Jesus, is the same one presented by Ferdinand Magellan to the chief consort of Rajah Humabon on the royal couple’s christening on April 14, 1521.

Little Amsterdam

We then took a drive into the mountains less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the heart of Cebu City.

There we visited Little Amsterdam. It is a large tourist destination of flowers set on Siraw Peak with vast overlooks of distant mountainscapes.

From there we went to the Temple of Leah.

According to the internet, Temple of Leah is called “Cebu’s Taj Mahal.”

It is a shrine in memory of Leah Albino-Adarna, the late wife of Teodorico Soriano Adarna, whose family owns a chain of Cebu motels.

“I constructed this temple in the year 2012 A.D. as a symbol of my undying love for and ceaseless devotion to Leah Villa Albino-Adarna, my wife of 53 years,” Teodorico is quoted as saying.

“I adopted an architectural design that can withstand time and still be appreciated for a millennium, so this temple will become a landmark of Cebu, where future generations of the Adarna clan... can come and trace their roots and heritage.”

It sits on top of a hill in Barangay Busay in Cebu City. It is 7 stories high, covers a land area of more than 5,000 square meters (1.2 acres) and was inspired by ancient Roman architecture.

Next: Cebu birthdays and cock fights.