Peru
Cusco · Lima, Peru · Cuzco · Machu Picchu · Lima
8 places pinned — click any one for its story.
The place
Peru was the heart of the Inca Empire — the largest state in the pre-Columbian Americas — and before that of civilizations going back thousands of years. The Spanish conquest of 1533 layered a colonial world on top, and today Peru is Andes and Amazon, ancient stonework and living Quechua culture, and some of the best food anywhere.
Katia and I traveled here in 2007 — Lima on the coast, then up into the Andes to Cuzco and the astonishing Inca walls, and out to Machu Picchu itself. Standing where a whole empire was run from, on masonry that has outlasted every earthquake for 500 years.
Places I visited
History & facts for each spot — with a “then & now” archival photo where one exists. Every one has its own page; open it for the full write-up and all the photos.
The 15th-century Inca citadel high on a ridge above the Urubamba, abandoned at the Spanish conquest and hidden by jungle until Hiram Bingham brought it to the world's attention in 1911. One of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →Archival photo: Hiram Bingham 1912 at Machu Picchu — Wikimedia Commons
The historic capital of the Inca Empire, later a Spanish colonial city built literally on top of the Inca stonework. Its cathedral rises over the Plaza de Armas on Inca foundations.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →Archival photo: Cathedral of Cusco 1868 — Wikimedia Commons
A single famous block in a Cuzco palace wall, cut and fitted to twelve angles so precisely that no mortar was used and not even a blade fits the seams — the marvel of Inca masonry.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →Archival photo: Ernst W. Middendorf Kusko — Wikimedia Commons
The Urubamba valley of terraced hillsides, salt pans, and Inca towns like Pisac and Ollantaytambo — the agricultural heartland of the empire.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →
5Lima
Peru's capital on the Pacific, the 'City of Kings' founded by Pizarro in 1535 — colonial plazas, baroque churches, and world-class food.
Full history & photos →Read more on Wikipedia →Archival photo: Tower of Dominican Church, Lima, Peru LCCN2001705584 — Wikimedia Commons
A remote Andean valley of traditional Quechua villages and hot springs, reached by a high trekking route through the mountains above the Sacred Valley — a quieter alternative to the Inca Trail.
Full history & photos →The desert oasis of Huacachina near the town of Ica on Peru's south coast — a palm-ringed lagoon amid giant sand dunes, famous for dune buggies and sandboarding.
Full history & photos →The 'Inca baths' just above Cusco — a ceremonial site of finely cut stone terraces, aqueducts, and springs still running after five centuries.
Full history & photos →