About 135km north of San Fernando (La Union) lies the old Spanish town of VIGAN , an obligatory stop on any swing through the northern provinces. It has become a bit of a cliché to describe Vigan as a living museum, but you have to admit it does some justice to the tag. One of the oldest towns in the Philippines, it was called Nueva Segovia in Spanish times and was an important political, military, cultural and religious centre. It still has pavements of cobbled stones and some of the finest old Spanish colonial architecture in the country, including some impressive homes that once belonged to friars, merchants and colonial officials. Various governmental and non-governmental organizations have joined forces to preserve the old buildings. Many are still lived in, others are used as curio shops and a few have been converted into museums. Vigan can thank Juan de Salcedo for its glorious architecture. The grandson of conquistador Miguel de Legaspi, he was made ruler of Ilocos province in the late sixteenth century and immediately set about emulating his grandfather's design of Intramuros. Vigan's time-capsule ambience is aided by the decision to close some of the streets to traffic and allow only pedestrians and carretelas , one-pony, two-seat traps - a ride in one of these makes for a romantic way to tour the town.

Vigan is one of the easier Philippine towns to negotiate because its streets follow a fairly regular grid pattern. Mena Crisolog Street runs south from Plaza Burgos and is lined with quaint old antique shops and cafés. Running parallel to it is the main thoroughfare, Governor A Reyes Street. Between Plaza P Burgos and Plaza Salcedo, stands the town's cathedral , St Paul's, dating back to 1641 - one of the oldest cathedrals in the country. Next to the cathedral, the Padre Burgos House National Museum (Mon-Fri 8.30-11am & 1.30-4.30pm) celebrates one of the town's most famous residents, Padre Jose Burgos, whose martyrdom in 1872 galvanized the revolutionary movement. The museum is a captivating old colonial house and houses fourteen paintings by the artist Villanueva, depicting the violent 1807 Basi Revolt, prompted by a Spanish effort to control the production of basi (sugar cane wine).

Souvenir-hunters after something more than the usual bulk-produced tourist nick-nacks should head for Rowilda's Hand Loom , on Mena Crisologo near the Cordillera Inn, which offers the kind of old-style textiles that used to be traded during colonial times. Vigan is also known for its pottery. The massive wood-fired kilns at the Pagburnayan Potteries in Rizal Street, at the junction with Liberation Boulevard, turn out huge jars, known as burnay, used by northerners for storing everything from vinegar to fish paste. Carabao (water buffalo) are used to squash the clay under hoof.