Sacred Valley, a pious name with pious feel. Nestled amid natural settings with stunning vistas, Sacred Valley fully justifies its name. Incas being the nature worshipers appropriately named the region as sacred. They built many ceremonial centers in Sacred Valley with Sun temples the most prominent ones.
Spread over several kilometers in Andean highlands of Peru, Sacred Valley was chosen by Incas as their empire. With Ururamba river flowing majestically, green pastures and comfortable altitude of Andes mountain range, this region must have been the obvious choice of Incas. Presently, the ruins of Ollantayambo and Pisac are the travelers’ delight to explore in Sacred Valley.
In this post I am depicting the archaeological site of Ollantaytambo in Sacred Valley. This site was a sacred site as well as a fortress in Inca times. Located at an altitude of 9160 ft,This site was built by the Inca Emperor Panchacuti in 15th century.
The moment I reached the Ollantaytambo site, the imposing structure captivated me. An engineering marvel to admire. Though in ruins now, still these structures talk volumes of the technological advancement adopted in construction of this fortress or Temple Hill as popularly known.
Six Monoliths at the Sun temple, on top of Temple Hill, weigh 50 tons each. Carriage of massive blocks for construction remains a mystery. More so when stones had to be quarried from far of distance. Many stories float on the technique being devised by Incas. Even the present day engineers are clueless at the method Incas adopted to build the mammoth structure.The peculiar interlocking, and meticulously joined huge stone blocks, in structures show the excellent craftsmanship of Incas.
After climbing few hundred steps, I gazed around. The town view from above was fantastic. At the top of Temple Hill placement of stone blocks and monoliths reflect that a part of construction was abandoned at some time. But this is not important. Significant part is to appreciate the knowledge and planning and skill Incas demonstrated.
Ollantaytambo ruins of Inca empire are a must visit for every traveler visiting Cusco. Ollantaytambo town is around 70 km away from the city of Cusco. Day tours run from Cusco to Sacred Valley. Tourists can be part of bigger groups with common guide and common transport to reduce costs. Tourists can also have private tour to Inca ruins in Sacred Valley.
You always inspire me to step out of my comfort zone
Thank you dear friend.
Nice article ……….. Thanks for sharing
Greta pictures, I did almost the exact same trip and loved Peru very much. Good luck in future travels
Thanks Michelle.
I’d never heard of Ollantaytambo ruins but I’d love to see them for myself, your blog has inspired me. Great photos too, really shows the Sacred Valley off
Really inspiring and really well written.. though I have heard of this place could never go there… Hopefully next year
Great post, would love to visit the Sacred Valley since it is one of the best preserved archeological sites in Peru and something different from Machu Piccu:)
Absolutely Jack. Sacred Valley is must visit. Thanks.
I have a really long list of places I want to go in the world. Peru is on that list and after reading this post, Sacred Valley has been added. Ancient civilizations are so interesting to learn about and seeing their engineering is both amazing and gives mystery at the same time.
Truly so Tifanee.
I love that you featured Ollantaytambo and the Sacred River Valley. We explored this area during our trip around Peru and really enjoyed it. The drive up the valley hugging roads is something special as well.
Thanks Dominic. Whole experience joyous with learning.
Now, that one for the bucket list surely! Love the combo of Incan heritage, the glorious trek, and the weirdly cute Lamas! My son loves the pics too! But he is only three, so doubt if he can get there now:)
Sreekar you will surely get interesting idea there for your pretty cartoons.
This place looks amazing. As it is one of the possible starting points of the Inca Trail, one should really consider beginning the hike here 🙂
Sacred Valley is amazing, really.
Sacred Valley is indeed beautiful, those ruins all over the place, It’s so nice to feel how people from medieval or even before that age, they have already constructed something exceptional, that’s what I also did felt when I went to visit the ruins in Peloponnese area. Ollantaytambo would be my target, the city’s view is just perfect.
Absolutely. Thank you.
I have added this to my list for when we visit Peru. I had wanted to go in 2018, biut it will be another year. I agree with you in how amazing the technology was so many years ago.
Wish you best for your Peru travel in near future. Thanks Wendy.
Wow!! I really love your pictures. Your article is so informative and I really wanna visit the sacred valley very soon. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Anna.
Never heard about this valley thanks for sharing and valley looks beautiful and images are amazing. Very well written blog.
Thanks Rahat. This is in Peru.
Good post! We will be linking to this particularly great post on our
site. Keep up the good writing.
Thank you.
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve visited this site before but after going through some
of the articles I realized it’s new to me.
Regardless, I’m certainly pleased I came across it and I’ll
be bookmarking it and checking back often!
Thank you.