Downtown, in a quieter residential area, Casa Gorordo Museum was originally a private home built in the 1850s and purchased by the Gorordos, one of Cebu’s leading families. The lower part of the house has walls of Mactan coral stone and the stunning upper-storey living quarters are pure Philippine hardwood, held together not with nails but with wooden pegs. The museum was closed for extensive renovations when we dropped by.
While you're in the area check out the 18th-century Yap-Sandiego ancestral house , among the country's oldest wooden houses, and the brash Heritage of Cebu Monument , depicting 500 years of city history. Tartanilla (horse-drawn carriages) sometimes hang out near Casa Gorordo and can be hired for short jaunts.
