Loitering in Lucena Grand Terminal, Lucena City in Quezon Province

After an almost four – hour journey from JAC Bus Terminal from Taft Avenue, Pasay City, just beside the LRT-1 Gil Puyat train station to Lucena Grand Terminal in Lucena City, starting from the early morning of 6:00 AM to a bright, golden sun of 9:30 AM reaching there with nice knees, fortunately, we have now reached the Grand Terminal which, before I actually went there, is a prominent end-point if one would like to reach Lucena City or any place in somewhere around Quezon Province, proudly being displayed on the signboards of buses that goes to southern Luzon aside from Batangas City, Nasugbu and other far – off places in Batangas.

The Lucena Grand Terminal is situated along the entrance of Lucena City, few kilometers away near the underpass on the middle of the wide roads. It is a bit of a right – turn if a bus wanted to go to the said terminal. The building itself is simple, wide, not that tall and suprisingly, colorful. Getting off from the JAC Bus to find another vehicle that will lead me to Lucban, Quezon within the Lucena Grand Terminal premises somewhere around 9:40 PM, I didn’t immediately look for another public transportation and loitered around the terminal for a bit. A group of men who were waiting for passengers took an interest of me and immediately asks where am I going, which I then said Lucban, which turns out, is a straightforward place to visit because many modern jeeps goes through Lucban, Quezon.

Walking around more to observe the nice place along the length of the bus road where they will eventually park, there are many pasalubong centers that sells different delicacies like hopia, bread, cheesecake, broas, different breads, yema and other sweets that everyone would be tempted to buy one of those and take it home. Walking inside the terminal that looks like a fiesta due to presence of exciting foods, delicacies, foods stalls dotted along the halls and the way the terminal was constructed, we could see different viands for the hungry travelers. Inspecting the viands being sold on those carinderia, they offered delicious meals like fried chicken, fried fishes, “pinakbet”, “sinigang na baboy”, “Bicol Express” and other very nice meals at a nice price. I wasn’t able to ask what are the prices of those but pretty sure it would be affordable for the ordinary masses. Walking further to reach the end of the terminal where many buses going further south of Luzon (I even see one bus with the signboard “Daet”!), vans and modern jeeps are parked to wait for the passengers, the terminal becomes more like a terminal as I imagined, with chairs circled around a small Mama Mary statue in the middle of the terminal reserved for the passengers who are excited to go to other places (or passengers who might be gloomy getting back to their hometowns).

I immediately took some time taking pictures of the terminal from all angles and enlisting other passengers to take some pictures of me. As minutes passed, I realized how nostalgic the terminal looked because these are the types of terminals I’ve seen when I was still a kid living in the province. Slightly small but memorable. But despite the smallness, the terminal exudes modernity because of the modern building that housed the terminal and the air-conditioned buses that only enhanced the modernity of the terminal. Walking furthermore to explore other places within the terminal premises to see other food stalls for enjoyment, it was now time to find a ride. A ride that will lead me to Lucban, Quezon, the place that I have researched few days prior. A pilgrimage site where our faith is expressed. Now noticing a modern jeep with the conductor collecting fares sitting on the front of the modern jeep, I walked towards him and asked were to find the vehicle that goes to Lucban, Quezon, in which he pointed the modern jeep behind his back. Paying P 57.00 fare (as of September 27, 2026) to go to Lucban, Quezon, I onboarded on one of the modern jeeps and now waiting for the modern jeep to go. We are now heading towards Kamay ni Hesus Pilgimage Site in Lucban, Quezon after minutes of waiting.