Work brought me to the east side of town, Marikina to be exact, one Saturday in April. Since the task I had to do wasn’t going to take the whole day, I figured I’d take that as an opportunity to check out the place since I was already there.

Marikina City is known for its shoe industry, it’s the biggest manufacturer of shoes in the Philippines. That’s why it’s called the Shoe Capital of the Philippines.

Marikina’s own version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Being the Pasay-Makati-Ortigas girl that I am, I didn’t really know any place in Marikina except for the famous Shoe Museum and Pan de Amerikana since I went there a couple of years back with some of my friends. Luckily, I knew someone who was nice enough to volunteer to show me around.

Meet my friend and tour guide for the day, Ver

Our first stop was this nice looking church, the Our Lady of the Abandoned Parish since it was right across our meeting place. 

I said a short prayer and a wish (Ryan told me you’re supposed to knock on the door of the church the first time you visit it and say a wish so I’ve been doing that) and then we went off to go to the place I really wanted to see… The Shoe Museum!

The Shoe Museum housed the former controversial First Lady Imelda Marcos’ shoe collection – well part of her 8 1/2 shoe size collection at least.
Check out her amazing shoe collection! I’m definitely in awe at the number (800 pairs of her 3000 pairs of shoes!) and also envious of her collection since I’m a shoe lover myself. 

Aside from Imelda’s shoe collection though, the Marikina Shoe Museum also had on display other famous personalities’ shoes from local celebrities to politicians. 

I also saw these interesting shoe designs from a 2014 footwear competition. 

For an early dinner, our feet took us to a burger place called Mama Chits. 
It’s like being transported to a 1950’s diner in Mama Chits. 
And outside, you’ll see all these different signage, still in keeping with the diner theme.  
Ver and I ordered pasta carbonara, burger and fries coupled with iced tea. The food was affordably priced, the burgers were big and all of it was delicious! I was a happy girl with a satisfied stomach. 
Ver actually took me to a couple more places around town but I’ll end this post right here since these were the places really worth noting. I had a good tour of Marikina and I want to come back to check out some more food joints in the area. I read some restos that may be worth checking out from Spot.ph.