Sacred Valley of the Incas: Ancient Moray, Maras and Ollantaytambo
Kipu Life Trip Day 05
We departed early in the morning from my good friend Jarek's Moon Temple Retreat Center on the outskirts of the city of Cusco. If you ever travel to Cusco I highly recommend to check out his establishment. He offers yoga, taichi and meditation in the valley along with wonderful tours of the area. Learn more by visiting his website at: https://www.moontempleretreats.com/about/
And then began the adventure through the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley of the Incas his stretches from the city of Cusco to the Ancient Fortress city of Ollantaytambo. The valley is incredibly fertile and once helped feed and nourish the Incan Empire. Today it is home to many picturesque hybrid Incan/ Spanish colonial towns, ancient ruins and beautiful nature.
After about a one hour journey we arrived at the ancient site of Moray. Moray is a unique Incan ruin in that it is consists of several terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is approximately 30 m (98ft) deep. Similar to Ollantaytambo it also has an irrigation system which shows the ancient Incas had a masterful level of engineering skill. There is also a theory that at the different levels the Incan terraces were able to grow different types of crops according to the microclimate at each level.
From Moray we traveled to Maras, also known as Maras Salt Mines consists of thousands of individual salt pools on a hillside, dating back to Incan times. It is west of the town of Moray and the surrounding trails offer views of the snow-capped Urubamba Valley and mountain range.
After the Maras Salt mines we adventured to the beautiful city and fortress of Ollantaytambo to finish off the day. Ollantaytambo is a magnificent Incan town and ruin site. During the Inca Empire, Ollantaytambo was the royal estate of Emperor Pachacuti, who conquered the region for the Incas and built the town and a ceremonial center for spiritual and religious reasons. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, it served as a stronghold for Manco Inca Yupanqui, leader of the Inca resistance against the Spanish conquest. Today is known as both a lovely Incan village with still functioning Incan aqueducts and also a impressive Incan fortress ruin site nestled in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Wow! Such great photos. Its really amazing how all that was constructed. Good to see Jerry
I have a theory that the Incas actually built on top of ruins constructed by an ancient civilization that came many thousands of years before them. I will.be posting pictures from Machu Picchu which clearly display two different types building styles. One far more advanced than the other.
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=bennettreiss
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=sacred-valley-of-the-incas-ancient-moray-maras-and-ollantaytambo
Want to have your post on the map too?
Thanks for the great memories, of my trip to that part of Peru a few years ago. Thankfully we didn't have the rain.
Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable mentions list in today's Travel Digest!
Very nice. There is a sun temple in Ollantaytambo and as I understood through Internet, before the conquerors it was ornamented with Gold (very special/symbolic pieces).
I also discovered a way to get in and out of the Ollantaytambo ruins (from the back) without paying a penny or doing long trekks, but If you want a guide who explains you what's in there and understand how important that place was, you guys should pay!