Ambling at UP Diliman

Where to go for a weekend trip in Quezon City for a peace of mind, leisurely walk, and unwinding the stresses of the previous week? UP Diliman campus can be a very rich experience for a simple amble on wooded and shrub bordered grounds.

UP Diliman is a few minutes away from Quezon Memorial Circle or Philcoa if one takes a leisurely jeepney ride from these points to this perfect place for a weekend trip. A grand welcome awaits the visitor after the University Avenue. At the main entrance of the campus where the bronze Oblation monument stretches its arms in a warm gesture of reception.

From here, the various roads into the campus, like the T.M. Kalaw and Osmena Streets, are lined up with huge trees affording natural sheds for a quiet and refreshing hike around the campus, and which makes it a good one for a weekend trip.

The Oblation statue was transferred there from UP Manila to signal the start of a new UP chapter. Out there in the vast 493-hectare sprawling land in Diliman, this gorgeous site for a weekend trip was conceptualized for a wooded haven very conducive to study and athletics.

The campus ground was used as a new site for UP in 1949. But not a few also saw it as a sanctuary for spiritual retreat and physical unwinding on a weekend after busy engagements the week before. Thus, in the middle of soccer bouts, softball games, Frisbee throws, and other athletic activities, joggers and amblers can be seen in the sidewalks and byways of the campus, or lone figures ruminating life or examining an art subject, or perusing mind-boggling books for a hobby.

This weekend trip target is further made exhilarating by the Sunken Garden immediately past the Oblation and the library behind it. An amphitheater and lagoon makes it very appealing for leisurely walks and group studies, or even light calisthenics to blend in with the sportier atmosphere about a stone’s throw away.

The campus also has an arcade and shopping center to quench nagging thirsts or pacify hunger pangs that often come with a good workout. What makes this place more a destination for a weekend trip is that somewhere near the arcade is an Olympic size swimming pool, with lockers and shower rooms. Then not far is a gym, and there’s even a provision for light amusement activities such as bowling and billiards.

For excursionists or plain strollers seeking a place to unwind and recharge, UP Diliman campus can be a promising sight to see or a hideaway haven.