Exploring Cusco

One of the most amazing things you notice in Cusco are the Inca walls; enormous granite blocks carved to fit together perfectly without the aid of mortar. When the Spanish arrived, they simply built upon these walls when constructing their cites. While the Spanish colonial architecture has been rebuilt several times following a wave of earthquakes that have hit the city, the Inca walls have survived.

We toured Sacsayhuaman: (sounds like “sexy woman”) , a walled complex near the old city of Cusco. It was the site of the 1536 battle in which dozens of Pizarro's men charged uphill to battle the forces of the Inca.

Then it was on to Ollantaytambo (called by locals Ollanta), a town in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, where the Incas retreated after the Spanish took Cuzco and Pisac. Pisac, another Inca fortress, has a strategic position overlooking the Rio Urubamba and two deep gorges and a mountain peak behind it.

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