Cusco City Highlights and Inca Heritage
Your tour guide will meet you and pick you up from your hotel lobby 10 minutes before the tour begins. Our first point to visit will be Sacsayhuamán, a Quechua name that means "satisfied hawk," built with huge stone blocks. It was called the "sun house" in Inca times and was a religious centre of great importance. We will then visit the Q'enqo Inca site to see its fascinating Incan altars. Q'enqo is a Quechua word that means "labyrinth," a name coined by the Spaniards for its labyrinthine underground galleries and the small canals carved in zigzag. Then we will visit the main local market of San Pedro, where we will familiarise ourselves with the local flavour by experiencing the products of the Cusco area. Continuing with the tour, we will visit Q'oricancha, or the Temple of the Sun. At Q'oricancha, you will be able to compare and contrast Incan culture and Catholic building methods. This was the Incas' key spiritual centre, which led to all four quarters of the Inca Empire. There is also a bronze high altar to be seen. To finish our tour, we will visit the main square of Cusco and take a short walk through the main and typical streets of the city, where we can see walls and buildings from the Inka period that are still well preserved, including Hatun Rumiyoc, the Stone of the 12 Angles, Loreto Street, and Intikijllu Street.
The convent was built on the spectacular Qorikancha, the place of gold, the most important temple dedicated to the worship of the sun, whose walls were covered with gold sheets. The convent stands on a foundation of polished stone structures, the most finely crafted in Cusco and the Inca Empire. Its gate is an excellent example of Renaissance style, and its unique Baroque tower stands prominently above the city's tiled roofs. Like all churches, it has an important collection of paintings from the Cusquenian School.
During our visit to the main square, we can see the Cathedral of Cusco and the Temple of the Company of Jesus. In Inca times, these were palaces of the Inca rulers. We will also see main streets such as the Stone of the 12 Angles, along with walls, palaces, and buildings from the Inka period that are still well preserved. We can take stunning photos inside this sacred square.
An imposing example of Inca military architecture, this fortress was built using large slabs of granite and dedicated to safeguarding the city of Cusco from attacks by invaders from the east, or Antis. Sacsayhuamán, in Quechua "satisfied falcon," is made up of three large terraces that overlap in a zigzag formation and are flanked by enormous stone ramparts of up to 300 metres in length. Due to its proximity and elevation in relation to Cusco, and because of the dimensions of its stones, which reach up to 5 metres high and 350 tons, it also served as a quarry for certain structures in the colonial city of Cusco.
Located four kilometres northeast of the city of Cusco, Q'enqo is a ritual centre built on a singular outcrop of limestone, with underground galleries and a semicircular amphitheatre, together with the archaeological groups of Q'enqo Grande and Q'enqo Chico. Its name, meaning labyrinth or zigzag, reflects its form. It fulfilled a purely religious function and features an exterior amphitheatre in a semicircular shape with trapezoidal niches and a monolith that appears to simulate a cougar, measuring approximately six metres.
The local San Pedro Market is one of the oldest in Cusco. Founded in 1925, it remains the largest concentration point for the supply of essential goods for Cusco and its visitors. It is, without doubt, a fascinating and fun cultural and experiential opportunity to learn about Andean culture. Listen to the Quechua language pronounced correctly, observe gestures and habits common in Andean culture, feel the mixture of smells from local products and flowers, and finally see handmade garments and places where they are made in a traditional way.
