The place that where I born is from Bicol and there are many beautiful spots in bicol that you will love when you will visit in my hometown. The Bicol Region or Bicolandia is one of the 17 regions of the Philippines. It occupies the Bicol Peninsula at the southeastern end of Luzon island and some other islands.It consists of six provinces, namely, Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon. It has one independent component city, Naga City, and six component cities, Iriga, Legazp, Ligao, Masbate, Sorsogon, and Tabaco. The regional centers are Legazpi City, the region's political and administrative center, Naga City, the region's cultural and religious center. Legazpi City, Naga City, and Sorsogon City are the leading cities in the region in terms of urbanization and also the hub of the region's economic activity. The Bicol languages are the dominant languages of the region. The Filipino language (Tagalog) is also spoken in northern parts of Camarines Norte as well as in the municipality of Del Gallego, Camarines Sur. Two Visayan languages, Sorsoganon and Masbateño or Minasbate, are spoken in Masbate and Sorsogon; they are collectively referred to as Bisakol. Bicol is the one of the most secular regions in the Philippines, as only 55% of Bicol Region inhabitants attend church weekly compared to 68% nationwide. However, the region retains Roman Catholicism as the religion of the great majority. The Catholic religion has the highest number of followers than in any other area in the Philippines. Fiestas (festival of saints) are common occurrence, from a simple barrio fiesta, which honors a patron associated for good harvest, to a town fiesta honoring a miraculous saint, or a regional one such as the Peñafrancia Fiesta, a one week long celebration to honor the Virgin Mary, dubbed as the "Queen Patron of Bicolandia". As a matter of fact, it is widely acknowledged that in Luzon, it is Bicol Region that holds the most number of men entering the seminary for Catholic Priesthood, and women entering the religious life to become Catholic nuns.

                               

 


                            Beautiful Spots In Bicol

Mayon Volcano
There are five volcanoes that can be found on Bicol: Mt. Labo (Camarines Norte), Mt. Malinao (Albay), Mt. Isarog (Camarines Sur), Bulusan Volcano (Sorsogon) and Mayon Volcano (Albay). You can see three mountains when in flight coming into Manila from the south. At 2,421 meters (the highest in the region), Mt. Mayon is reputed to have the world's most perfect natural coneand the largest volcano that can be found in Bicol.
Mayon Volcano, also known as Mount Mayon, is an active stratovolcanic in the province of  Albay, in the Bicol Region, on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. Renowned as the "perfect cone" because of its almost symmetrically conical shape, Mayon forms the northern boundary of Legazpi City.




Penafrañcia Festival 

The feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is celebrated on the third Saturday of September in Naga City, Bicol. The feast day is preceded by a novena, nine days of prayer, in honor of the Virgin. On the first day, the image of the Virgin, a copy of the Madonna in Peñafrancia, Spain, is brought from its shrine to the Naga Cathedral where the novena is held. On the last day, the image is returned to her shrine following the Naga River route. The colorful evening procession is lit by thousands of candles from devotees in boats escorting the image. When the barge reaches its destination, the devotees shout "Viva la Virgen" (Long live the Virgin!) and the image is brought back in a procession to the cathedral. According to locals, a Spanish government official from Peñafrancia, Spain, settled with his family in Cavite in 1712. One day, his daughter fell ill and the family prayed for her recovery to the famous Madonna of Peñafrancia, a picture of whom was in their possession. When the daughter recovered, the father vowed to build a chapel in honor of Our Lady of Peñafrancia in Manila. However, since he was being detained in Nueva Caceras, he built the chapel in that city, now known as Naga.

Millions of Bicolanos will once again show to the whole Christian world their strong faith and loyalty to their Heavenly Mother. amongst triumphant sounding shouts of Viva la Virgen , Bicolanos and pilgrims, with lighted candles in their hands, will kneel on the ground and bow their heads in prayer as the colorful fluvial procession carrying the Virgin plows through the Bicol River in downtown Naga. A multicolored pagoda carrying the images/icons of the Virgin of Peñafrancia and the Divino Rostro will pass through the Bicol River. Male, sunburned devotees of the Virgin will adhere to the huge pagoda in a heartwarming display of faith and devotion. Actually, the fluvial procession marks the return of the Virgin from the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral to her home shrine at the Basilica. Upon its arrival, the Virgin will be received in formal religious rites by Roman Catholic dignitaries of the Bicol Region led by Cardinal Jose T. Sanchez.  Considered the biggest and most popular religious event in the Philippines, the Peñafrancia fiesta is in fact a one-week affair that starts on the second Friday of September when the miraculous Ina is transferred from her shrine to the centuries-old Naga Metropolitan Cathedral where a nine-day novena and prayers are held in her honor. Ranking government officials, Cabinet members, ambassadors, governors, mayors, senators, diputados , business/industry leaders, landlords, etc., vie for the distinct honor of sponsoring a nightly novena and prayers at the Naga Cathedral. A procession, locally called traslacion (is the transferring of the miraculous Image of the Virgin, Our Lady of Peñafrancia and of the Divino Rostro to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Naga City for a Novena and Holy Masses. This begun in 1885.), ushers in the weeklong festivities which include civic and military parades, sports competitions, agro-industrial fairs, cultural shows, and the coronation of Miss Bicolandia beauties.Visit bicol so that you can see our beautiful spots hee in bicol. You will not regret if you will visit Bicol and it will serves us your unforgettable moment if you will visit Bicol.