During my grade school years, our elementary version of the Philippine history subject graphically filled my young mind with various landmarks and icons — the man-made wonder of the Banaue Rice Terraces, the perfect cone of Mayon Volcano, the tiniest sinarapan fish in Lake Buhi, the cascading waters of Pagsanjan Falls, and the magical Chocolate Hills. And of course, Cebu’s very own famed Magellan’s Cross, which I would see whenever I went on a pilgrimage to the image of the Santo Niño.

But among all these and more, the description which stood out to no end — perhaps due to how amusing it sounded to the child me — Taal Volcano, a volcano within a lake within a volcano! Try to beat that!

That tagline, if we may call it such, truly fascinated me so much that, before I knew it, my father whisked us off on a trip to see it for ourselves. Our destination? What was then called the Taal Vista Lodge, which boasted of the best spot to witness the spectacular view. To this day, I must confess, I often catch myself calling it by its old name, only for friends to remind me that it has since been upgraded, renovated, refurbished, and rebooted to be rightfully known as the Taal Vista Hotel of today.

Every visit to this premier property is an educational and emotional experience, a sentiment I grasped even more vividly during A Walk Through Time, the hotel’s guided historical tour, which began during its 85th anniversary.