A Day in Espana Boulevard with the Samsung Galaxy A52

Living in a neighborhood that is within the border of Manila and Quezon City, there are a lot of interesting things to see especially when you are just walking around. For one weekend, I decided to walk around Espana Boulevard (yes, it is walking distance from my house), and brought along the Samsung Galaxy A52 to do a photo diary of my journey.

Before heading out, a quick shoe of the day (SOTD) and watch of the day (WOTD) because we want to look fly especially in these rare times that we are out of the house.

Living near the border of Quezon City and Manila, Welcome Rotonda is one of the key landmarks in our neighborhood. It is one of the few solid examples of the Spanish-inspired rotunda in Metro Manila.

The Galaxy A52’s 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera proved to be useful to get a full view of this spot, though the main camera is good enough–while giving me more details thanks to its 64-megapixel sensor.

Nearby Welcome Rotonda is a large condominium complex, and they happened to have a food market that day. It was so tempting to grab a meal here, but I just had a heavy lunch prior to going out. That did not stop me from taking snaps of the food being sold, utilizing the Galaxy A52’s cameras.

What makes walking the stretch of Espana over commuting or driving is that you get to see several details that are worth photographing. Take this restaurant spot, where it has a mural highlighting the many schools in Manila, or maybe this spot selling plants to aspiring plantito/titas.

Within the stretch of Maceda st. is a great spot to take a photo of PLDT’s tower–a landmark symbol in our area as it used to be the tallest structure within the neighborhood. Since then, SM’s Sun Residences took over the title, literally drafting the telephone tower as seen here.

Being a major thoroughfare, Espana is a busy street that is often plagued with heavy traffic. The major boulevard is home to Blumentritt (right)–the border of Manila and Quezon City as well as the Espana PNR station (left)–which transports people from Tutuban to Makati to even as far as Bicol (via Bicol Express).

It has been a while since I passed by UST, so their new, modern building called my attention. It is the most modern UST building within the area, and it was interesting to see that this new building is located opposite the campus.

And while I was not allowed to enter the campus itself, taking a glimpse of it from the outside made me appreciate the historical structures of UST. Definitely worth capturing.

While was around UST, I decided to visit our ancestral home and say hi to my grand aunt–who is still busy working despite being in her 90s. While I was waiting for her to entertain me, I went on interacting with their new guard dogs.

Before leaving, my grand aunt was concerned about the immense heat I had to face walking back home, so she gave me an ice cream sundae to keep me refreshed.

As I made my way home, I noticed how the pandemic took a toll on the establishments around UST. What used to be lively and chock full of people now felt like a ghost town, with a big chunk of establishments closed for good.

Continuing my walk back home, I stumbled upon this small sneaker shop along Espana that has a good collection of sneakers being sold. While I did not buy any sneakers from the shop (my size was not available anyway), I just bought a pair of shorts from them. After all, considering what I had just witnessed earlier, I wanted to help and support small shops such as this one.