City tour of Cusco, Peru. Pictures of Cusco.

Cusco, the old Inca capital, is a beautiful city at 3360 meters of elevation, rich in history and attractions.

The tour of the city starts in Plaza de Armas, today in holiday because of St. Bartolomeo.

A WidevieW around Plaza the Armas, showing the cathedral, the church of Society of Jesus and the central gardens


On the left, the main cathedral. On the right, the church of Society of Jesus.


Streets and buildings around Plaza de Armas.

Koricancha (Temple of the Sun), Cusco, Peru

The city tour continues with a visit to the beautiful Koricancha (Temple of the Sun). Unfortunately the site has been almost completely destroyed by the Spanishes in order to build the nearby Santo Domingo church and convent, and also because ordered by the catholic religion.

In the pictures, the church stands above an Inca basement (left picture) and, on the right, the new monastery's courtyard (The Inca ruins are behind the portals).


	Inca walls. The few remains are a nice example of the Inca's architecture.


	The precision with which the blocks are cut and joint togheter is amazing, as well as the geometry and the sense for aesthetic and beauty.

Sample of Inca architecture. The geometry used is fascinating: Often, doors and windows are perfectly aligned one behind another. They are not only beautiful to see, but also functional, as they are built following severe and effective rules to limit damages from earthquakes (the earthquake that hit Cusco about an half century ago, destroyed many Spanish buildings, but not Inca's).

These rules include the inclination of the walls, the trapezoidal shape of doors, windows and walls itself, the accurate cutting of the stones, which are also joint using a precise / alternate pattern and often firmly tied internal reinforcement (as already seen in Tiahuanaco). Last but not least, the buildings are built over foundations usually one meter deep, made of sand and gravel, in order to compensate and movement.

To destroy them, spanishes often had to use the dynamite.


The next stop is on a hill near the suburbs of Cusco where, not only there is a nice view of the city, but also the intersting ruins of Sacsayhuaman. The funtion of this site is currently quite unclear, the researches have several hypotesis, but the most accepted is that it was a fortress to protect Cusco and / or a temple, perhaps the biggest Sun Temple of all.

Here the stone blocks are much more bigger than normal, up to 9x5 meters with a weight of about 500 tons.


Unfortunately, also here most of the site was destroyed and many stones removed.

Of this building, there are just the foundations.

A WidevieW of Cusco as seen from the top of the hill.

A zoom over Plaza de Armas.


	Also in this case, although the size and the weight, the stones are still cut and fit with a precision of a knife.


It seems that there aren't reliable information about the function of this other site, called Q'enqo. The entire complex has been built excavating internally a huge stone many meters big. The most accepted theory is that it was a religious site, where probably human and animal sacrifices was held (the top-right picture).

The last stop is at Tampu Machay. Also in this case the function of this site is uncertain but, because of the presence of the fountains, it was probably a bath or another temple with religious functions.

*PICTURES OF PERU - BOLIVIA - CILE: IMAGES FROM THE TRIP DAY BY DAY*
	09.08.2003 - Santiago day tour Guided day tour of Santiago, visiting Plaza de Armas, the downtown with its tall skyscrapers, and the outskirts.
	10.08.2003 - Winery tour from Santiago Chile is getting every year more competitive in the wine market, thanks to the quality and to the increasing quantity. A winery tour in a farm near Santiago lets to discover the wine production process and to taste excellent wines.
	11.08.2003 - San Pedro De Atacama The Atacama desert in Chile is considered one of the world's driest place where, in several areas, there are no registered rainfalls for many consecutive years. But this doesn't mean that there is no life or nothing to see...
	12.08.2003 - San Pedro de Atacama and Salar De Atacama Day tour from San Pedro de Atacama to Salar de Atacama, a huge salt flat surrounded by majestic volcanoes, where flamingoes have made their home.
	13.08.2003 - from Laguna Verde to Laguna Colorada Today the groups gets into Bolivia where an adventure by 4x4 begins. The today itinerary goes from Laguna Verde (green lake) to Laguna Colorada (red lake) driving off road or onto dirty roads, between spectacular lunar landscape of extreme high mountain.
	14.08.2003 - Crossing Bolivian plateau by 4x4 The Bolivian desert expedition by 4x4 continues at altitudes between 3.500 and 5000 meters above sea level, in an incredible landscape of rocks sculptured by winds and other extreme elements.
	15.08.2003 - Salar De Uyuni tour With an average altitude higher than 4000 meters, the Bolivian plateau offers spectacular scenery, like the immense Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. We make a stop at Isla Pescado (fish island) a small hill in the middle of the salt, where there are giant cactus.
	16.08.2003 - Travel from Uyuni to Potosi Travel by public bus service from Uyuni to Potosi, over partly paved roads at extreme altitudes, in the middle of the Andes.
	17.08.2003 - Potosi city tour and silver miner excursion Excursion to the interesting "museum of the coins" in Potosi, then tour into a silver miner where people work in terrible conditions, inside a mountain above 4.000 meters of altitude.
	18.08.2003 - Sucre city tour Travel by public bus service from Potosi to Uyuni, Bolivia, then short Sucre city tour and excursion to the "dinosaurs footprints" park, a vertical wall of rock where dinosaurs tracks were left impressed after a sudden catastrophic event.
	19.08.2003 - La Paz city tour Flight from Sucre to El Alto, one of the world's most elevated airports, near the city of La Paz, Bolivia. A short city tour of La Paz follows.
	20.08.2003 - Tiahuanaco tour Excursion to Tiahuanaco ruins by bus, departing from La Paz. This archeological site is very interesting and belongs to pre-Inca time.
	21.08.2003 - Travel La Paz - Puno via Copacabana Travel by public bus from La Paz to Puno (Peru) via Copacabana. Today, we cross the border line between Bolivia and Peru, traveling along the Titicaca lake shores.
	22.08.2003 - Titicaca lake cruise Like the ancient Uros people, about 2000 Peruvians still populate the floating islands built of Totora reeds, over lake Titicaca in Peru. Everything, from homes to the floating islands itself, is built using Totora reeds, a plant growing along the shores of lake Titicaca.
	23.08.2003 - Travel Puno - Cusco by train Travel from Puno to Cusco by train, over one of the world highest railway. The entire journey takes almost 12 hours, but worth because of the beautiful scenery.
	24.08.2003 - Excursions from Cusco <YOU ARE HERE> Cusco, in the middle of the Andes in Peru, is a city full of history and fascinating museum. The first day spent in Cusco is dedicated to an excursion to Sacsayhuaman fortress and to the temple of the sun.
	25.08.2003 - Pisaq and Ollantaytambo tour Drive from Cusco thru the Sacred Valley to Pisaq with its ancient ruins and the local handicraft market. Continue to Ollantaytambo where we spend the night.
	26.08.2003 - Travel to Machu Picchu by train Travel to Machu Picchu by train from Ollantaytambo. The narrow gauge railway finishes in Aguas Calientes where we have some rest and overnight.
	27.08.2003 - Machu Picchu tour Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca town, has been discovered only in 1911, although was always known by several local farmers. A tour of Machu Picchu gives the possibility to better understand the everyday life of who has lived here.
	28.08.2003 - Cusco city tour and museums Only one day in Cusco is never enough, so, in this second day, I visit several interesting museums and do more hikes in the city, where many modern buildings are built over ancient Inca walls.
	29.08.2003 - Flight Cusco - Lima Short flight from Cusco to Lima by a Lan Peru Airbus A320. This journey thru the Andes of South America is now about to finish.
	30.08.2003 - Lima day tour Excursion to a pre-Inca cemetery, before visiting Plaza de Armas and the interesting San Francisco monastery.
	Collection of the best pictures The most beautiful pictures from Peru, Bolivia and Chile are collected in this page. Click the highlighted links for additional travel information, for useful links and for a description of the photography equipment.

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