Things to see and do Quezon City

It is a huge park of 27 hectares, the largest of all Quezon City. It forms a kind of enormous roundabout encircled by the road. In the middle of the park stands the Quezon Memorial, a 66-meter high statue erected in honor of Manuel L. Quezon, the first president of the Philippines in the period of independence under the Commonwealth in 1934. The park is very popular with Filipinos who call it the Circle and come to play sports, picnic or simply to meet and rest.

If there is one place you would not expect to find in the middle of the urban jungle that is Quezon City, it is a huge protected park of 24 hectares and yet there is one! This zoological and botanical garden next to the Quezon memorial will arouse the interest of nature lovers: confiscated or injured wild animals are taken care of there. There is also a playground for children. The park is very popular with families for picnics.

Part interactive museum, part amusement park, Art in Island opened in 2014 and has been delighting kids (and anyone else who's kept their childlike spirit) ever since. It's also called the selfie museum, so that sets the tone. Inside, on 4,000^m2, dozens of murals that play on optical illusions to create 3D scenes in which visitors immerse themselves. Finding yourself in the mouth of a tyrannosaurus or on a footbridge suspended in the void, it's a bit kitschy but also very funny!

The city of Marikina (we speak more of a city in its own right than the district of Quezon City, which is logical for a city of 3.3 million inhabitants) is known as the shoe capital of the Philippines. We will go to this shoe museum to "admire" the gigantic shoe collection (some 300 pairs anyway!) of Imelda Marcos, the wife of the former president-dictator Marcos. You can also learn more about the shoe-making process and there is a small market next door to... find the right shoe.