Ollantaytambo

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After our day at Machu Picchu, we had planned route around the Sacred Valley (Valle Sagrado).  We started at the Ollantaytambo Incan ruins. 

Ollantaytambo is a lovely Incan town, complete with “original” Incan roads, walls and buildings.  It is considered one of the last places you might want to stay on the way to Macchu Picchu that is truly worth exploring versus just stopping over on the way to MP (like Aguas Calientes).  From what we could tell there was only one way into the city (at least from one side). 

These ruins are beautiful built directly into the hills.  We bought a pass that gave us entrance to a number of different ruins and museums throughout the valley and Cusco.  It was slightly more expensive to buy the pass versus entrance to a single monument, but if you are planning on seeing more than one, the pass is worth it.  The pass was good for approximately two weeks (or maybe up to a month). 





Everyone (aka most historians) originally thought it was a military base since it was where the Incans last stand occurred.  More recently, it has been decided that the city was below it with storage and agricultural terraces with a temple at the top of the monument.  The temple was never finished.  It had massive boulders, which were pushed up an ~1KM ramp to the top of the monument.  It also bathing houses around the other side of the hill. 



Jason continues to be amazed at how precisely the boulders were carved using only other rocks.  It is truly an engineering marvel. 

This monument like many of the others does not have a lot of signage other than labeling what certain areas are.  The map at the bottom is helpful.  We tended to take a picture of it, so we would have it as a reference point throughout. 

Times visited: 1
Time at historical place: 1 hr
Overall: B+

Location: Ollantaytambo, Peru

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