The Sacred Valley of the Incas

You'll be picked up at around 8:00-8:30 in the morning and we'll set off for the Sacred Valley of the Incas by bus. After an hour we'll reach our first stop, the village of Pisaq. On Sundays and Thursdays, we'll have time to tour the popular local market before continuing on for a guided visit to the hilltop archeological site at whose feet the town lies.

The Inca ruins of Pisaq are a large complex which includes narrow agricultural terraces known as the Pisaqa, the Q'allaqasa fortress, and the religious center of every Inca town, the sun temple, or Intihuatana, which may also have served as an astronomical observatory. It was here that the solar clock was located, referred to as the "hitching post" of the sun because it appeared to hold the sun in position during the equinoxes, as well as the ritual baths and the temples.

After a couple of hours uncovering the mysteries of Pisaq, we'll head to Urubamba at midday for a buffet lunch. Along the way we'll pass through small towns such as Coya, Lamay, and Calca and be able to appreciate the pastoral grandeur of the Sacred Valley landscape.

We'll then continue our journey to Ollantaytambo to explore the town itself, one of the best surviving illustrations of Incan urban planning, with many buildings resting on original Inca bases, as well as the ruins at whose foot it lays, the imposing Fortress of Ollantaytambo. Built to defend the strategic entrance to the Lower Urubamba Valley, this was the only Inca stronghold to have successfully resisted Spanish attack, and today is one of the largest and best-preserved Inca fortresses. It took thousands of men to transport the stones from high on the other side of the Urubamba River and build the complex, which was never completed.

We'll spend a couple of hours visiting Ollantaytambo before direct