A cosmopolitan city with over 300 thousand inhabitants, located on the eastern side of the Andes at almost 11,000 ft. above sea level and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities, it has a complex history, woven with significant events and legends. It's an urban center created by the Incas, then added onto by the conquering Spaniards, who built Baroque churches and palaces throughout the ancient city, leaving its foundation intact. Much of its highly crafted early stone architecture is preserved in the ground floors of colonial and modern structures. Known as the home and residence of gods and the spiritual and political capital of the Incan Empire, it is a city built in the shape of a puma that can only be seen from the air.
You will walk through Incan streets that are illuminated by the sun every winter solstice, and experience some of the most important Incan and Spanish religious sites, such as Qorikancha, also known as the Golden Enclosure, which displays a sophisticated stone construction technology, and Cusco Cathedral, which is still in use today and contains an art gallery consisting of 17th-century canvasses in the Cusco School of painting, with a special highlight consisting of 'The Last Supper' featuring a guinea pig.
You will have the rest of the day to support the local economy at the unique galleries or at the handicraft markets. We will also explore Sacsayhuaman, an Inca fortress 400 ft./120 m above the city of Cusco. The site was built with massive boulders, some of which weigh more than 100 tons. The Spaniards did not believe that such monolithic stones could be moved by human beings and they attributed Sacsayhuaman's construction to the mythical Cyclops. Thus, this type of architecture is known as the "Cyclopean Inka style".
Lunch and dinner at your own expense.
Overnight in Cusco city. 11,000 ft.
