Cusco City
Cusco is the historical and archaeological capital of South America, a title awarded by UNESCO to preserve its archaeological monuments and to keep their customs that come from the time of the Incas. Their great archaeological monuments defy time with huge complex which now amaze all visitors.
This is a half day tour starting with a visit the Santo Domingo Convent, famous for being built on the Incan sun temple structures, the main religious building of the Incas dedicated to the worship of the Sun. When the first Spaniards arrived they were amazed to see that the walls of the great temple were covered with gold plates. Following that tour, we will visit the Cathedral, a colonial religious monument of extraordinary artistic value with its fabulous paintings with a carved wooden frame, and the beautiful Church of the Company.
Continuing the tour, we visit the archaeological complex of Sacsayhuaman, where you will appreciate large terraces which overlap in zigzag formation surrounded by enormous stone walls well fitted with stone blocks exceeding 6 meters high and weighing over 120 tons. Simply a magnificent work of Incan architecture most worthy of being admired. You will also visit Q’enqo, which means “Labyrinth”. This place is a stone shrine that was used for ritual purposes. Also Pukapukara, which means “red fortress” because the calcareous stones with which is built have acquired the reddish color of the ground. And finally Tambomachay which was a sacred center of worship of water, that were also known as Incan Baths.
