Bea and Gelo went for a vacation to Europe during the summer of 2009 to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. They visited the cities of Paris and Madrid."Bea's father, Ramon, is a Madrilleno who was stationed in the Philippines for many years as the head of the Tabacalera Tobacco company. When he retired, he moved back to his home city Madrid."
"When we visited Madrid, my father and mother-in-law brought us for a day trip to Segovia which is an hour outside of Madrid proper. The main attractions in Segovia are the old medieval city itself and the Alcazar (citadel) which served as home to several kings of Spain."
"While walking through the city after seeing what there was to see, Bea's attention was drawn to this very unique looking house. The house's name is Casa de los Picos."
"The unique feature of the house is its spikes on the wall. The tourist historical plaque next to it explained that the house used to be at the very edge of the city next to one of its main gates. Segovia, being a seat of power back then, had to be fortified, and so did the Casa de los Picos and the other houses at the edge of the city."
"Reading the rest of the text, we came to the interesting fact that Casa de los Picos belonged to the De LAHOZ clan. Lahoz spelled exactly the way we know it. What's more, the family crest on the wall is in the shape of an axe or sickle like instrument. Our name, La-hoz translates to "the sickle" in Spanish."
"I am only surmising, it was probably the patriarch of the clan or a descendant of his that came to the Philippines, and served as godfather to the Chinese merchant (Que Quico who started us all), when he was baptized as a catholic. Hence the adoption of the name Lahoz."
See the rest of the Photos and Plaque identifying the Casa de los Picos as belonging to the De La Hoz family in the following Picasa Web Album.
Thank you, Gelo and Bea! What an interesting find, indeed!