A strenuous, puffing hike north from the city (or a pleasant horse ride, depending on your preference) lie four significant Inca sites that shed a lot of light on that fascinating culture. Tambo Machay was known as the “Inca Baths” and water still runs along the channels they constructed. Puka-Pukara is interesting, but Qenko is far more so, featuring an amphitheatre and cavern. But Sacsayhuaman (say it quickly!) – the head of Pachacutek’s famous puma – is spectacular. The site of an infamous battle between the Incas and conquistadors, it is now used for the famous Inti Raymi festival in June. Ramparts made up of giant boulders that fit together like jigsaw pieces, it is a place to marvel at the civilization that created it.

On the way to Pisaq, to the north of the city

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A symbol of the clash between the Incas and the Spaniards, Qoricancaha was once the religious centre for the Incas and legend has it that the “Court of Gold” was so named because the area was literally covered in the stuff when the conquistadors arrived. Imagine what happened next.

The Spaniards actually built a church on top of the old walls (Santo Domingo), but when an earthquake brought some of the European-engineered walls crashing down, there stood the famous Inca stonework intact underneath.

A truncated Temple of the Sun at one end of the church overlooks a grassy area, below which is an interesting little museum displaying skulls that were deformed by Inca surgeons. A must, hence the removal of Qoricancha from the Cuzco Tourist Ticket...

Hours: Monday-Saturday, 8:30 am – 5:30 pm; Sunday 2-5 pm;
Plaza Santo Domingo;
tel: 51 84 222-071;
Prices: Not included in Tourist Ticket. Costs S/6 for adults, S/3 for students

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For those who like their religious experiences dark and sinister, Cuzco’s cathedral is for you.

Built on the site of an Inca temple, but clearly not in worship of the Sun God, very little light manages to penetrate the gloom. Huge canvases from the Cuzco School of Art depict the bloody deeds of saints and sinners, seemingly painted from a palette containing only black and red.

Check out the ominous silver altar, adorned with mirrors which do little to brighten the scene. You can taste the history, written in Inca blood.

One chink of light is the painting of the Last Supper, Andean-style – with Jesus and the Apostles sitting down to a delicious platter of … guinea pig.

Plaza de Armas

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