The best way to grasp the special Cebuano relationship to water is to arrive by ship. Seen from the sea, the two bridges that cross the channel between islands of Cebu and Mactan are no longer the vehicular thoroughfares that they actually are but transform into a pair of graceful silver archways that welcome the visitors who sail beneath them.

When I am in Cebu I have to look twice at everything that I see. Being an international manufacturing center for furniture, furnishings, and accessories, where industry constantly innovates to come up with new products in surprising designs and materials, I have learned to assume that what catches my eyes was locally designed and manufactured, not brought back after a shopping trip to a foreign style capital. Cebu is where to find the most avant-garde furniture upholstered in exotica like stingray, where wrought iron is still hand-forged as it has been for centuries, where attractive silver or stainless steel cutlery is cast, where hands embroider and sew women's accessories.

It is also where the architecture of the homes is singular: most homes open wide to decks that cantilever over the Cebu hills, with splendid mountain views of the city and of the islands beyond the sea. It is where the furniture in all the homes is proudly homegrown, with each family having its own confidential export-quality source. It is where architecture and interiors are finished with exquisite craftsmanship.

It is also where the architecture of the homes is singular: most homes open wide to decks that cantilever over the Cebu hills, with splendid mountain views of the city and of the islands beyond the sea. It is where the furniture in all the homes is proudly homegrown, with each family having its own confidential export-quality source. It is where architecture and interiors are finished with exquisite craftsmanship.

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