Temple of Ollantaytambo

Meer dan tien dagen zijn Joyce, Melissa (uit Ierland die we nog kennen uit Samaipata) en ik in Cusco en het is hier geweldig! De stad zelf is erg prettig. Mooie pleinen, kerken, koloniale huizen, schoon (voor Zuid-Amerikaanse begrippen) een actief nachtleven, prettig klimaat (warm en zonnig overdag en koud 's nachts), een hoop toeristen …

7am I was picked up by bus to go on the Sacred Valley tour. An 11 hour tour, it was a little underwhelming compared to Machu Picchu. However, the thing to remember about these stops is that the places were lived in and Machupicchu was like a head office of sorts (kinda makes it sound less cool when I put it that way). Stories about the tour are in …

When we first started planning this world trip, hiking the inca trail to Macchu Picchu was top of the bucket list. We embarked on a three night, four day hike/camping trip across the mountains to see the sacred inca city of Macchu Picchu, and this is what happened...

Day One
We were woken early by the guy in the hostel whizzing up some …

As a result of a lot of Ellie's whinging, plus a high demand from our readers, this blog will be wrote by none other than me (KB) The first day on our inca adventure consisted of meeting our guides (Pedro and Israel), meeting the trek group (too many names to mention), and testing our trekking legs. It's worth noting I was still in a two day …

Just enjoy the photos guys this was partly other things we did before arriving back to cuzco from Machu Picchu via ollantambo on a festival day, and a tour from cuzco out to maras town to see the maras moray the terraced hole and the salt mine both were just amazing and have got us some awesome pics. other than that not much to say as we know nowt …

Ollantaytambo
Am Dienstag gings los! Wir hatten nach vielem Hin-und-Her uns entschlossen, eine Pauschalreise nach Machu Picchu zu buchen und zwar beim süßen Alfredo :) Der uns super gut informierte und uns auf der Parkbank erklärte, dass es kaum mehr Zugtickets gäbe (krass!) - so nahmen wir, was noch da war und bezahlten am Ende 180 USD jeder f …

Day two the trail starts from wayllabamba at 3000 metres above sea level. We awake in balls taking up one half the tent as during the night we have both slipped down the synthetic mattress that follows the decline of the ground that the entire campground is based upon. Despite the inconvenience most of the group slept well amidst the usual snoring …

Last night I was in the Hotel Prisma which has the worst reviews in the world on TripAdvisor, but apart from the WiFi not working properly, it was fine. I had a room not on the front and also wore earplugs, so I got a really good sleep, plus I had my own room for free (you usually have to pay extra to get your own room on G Adventures trips), and …

On the sixth day it wasn't such an early start - we were picked up by our tour guide at 8am for a journey through the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley is more commonly known to the indigenous people as the Urubamba Valley which was carved over time by the Vilcanota river. The valley runs from Pisaq (also spelt as Pisac) all the way to Ollantaytambo …

Toured the Inca sites of Pisac and Ollantaytambo today. Hotel right at the foot of the Inca site in Ollantaytambo, don't think you could get a more atmospheric hotel location. Feet hurting so much now as a result of the sunburn and bites I got when on the rafting trip. Very swollen now and blisters forming too. Just have to do my best to treat them …

... through them. These were all built by the Incas to channel mountain water, and they still exist all over the town of Ollantaytambo. We also saw special baths for purification used only by the king, princess and certain people in government. Well, ...

... of terraced agricultural palaces, an old incan cemetary (consisting of holes in the hills edges where corpse were placed), the obligatory temple of the sun and as it turns out several paths and tracks between the ruins which invariably have knife edge ...

... attractive town in an excellent setting nestled between high mountains. We were given a tour of the impressive ruins there, including the Temple of the Sun. There were so many things the guide told us about, like the face chipped into the mountain where ...

... ;As there was still some time left before dusk Me, Nat and Geoff decided to go for a walk around the nearby per-inca ruins of Ollantaytambo. The ruins were set on a steep slope just up from the town centre and consisted of a number of terraces leading up ...

... that the Incas were in the process of transporting, shaping, carving and using in their building.  They had begun building the Temple of the Sun using these stones. It truly was amazing to think that they managed to quarry these huge giants and then ...

... of course, slaughtering the inhabitants and taking over the town in the valley for their own garrison. Today's town of Ollantaytambo is built directly over the Incan city, with colonial courtyards incorporating the beautiful Incan stonework. This ...

... pasta....Best lunch we've had in a long time, on our backpacker budget!  Our next Incan site was in the town of Ollantaytambo, where the people still live in houses with Incan foundations. The town is watched over by an Incan citadel---about 200 ...

... for building and repairs should they be needed, so clever.  On the other side of the small plaza was the temple of three windows, again trapezoidal, looking out over to the highest mountain in the valley, everything connected, everything planned. ...

... were forced to dismantle what they had built themselves - dragging gigantic stones from another mountain. Anyway, besides the impressive temple of the sun (partially destroyed) and the temple of the moon (unfinished) there are lots of other structures ...

... ...... once again perfect stonemasonry used on the buildings. This was a large city made up of many districts and including the Temple of the Sun, baths, altars, water fountains,and an “intihuatana”, an outcrop carved into a “hitching ...