Machu Picchu

We boarded the plane again and arrived in Cusco in the morning, fully rested and ready to start our typical city exploration. Juli had already been here with her parents in February. Cusco is a growing city that is completely focused on tourism. I'm inclined to say: unfortunately! You are approached at every corner and offered tours, massages, or whatever. It eventually got annoying. But Cusco has so much to offer. It was the capital of the Inca Empire and was later almost completely destroyed by the Spaniards. Well, the Spaniards tore down the Inca palaces. As far as they could. And then they built churches to occupy everything with Catholicism. For an atheist like me, it's once again a confirmation of how crappy religions are. Well, the Spaniards were quite clueless because the significantly less impressive buildings didn't always withstand the earthquakes... Fortunately, the Spaniards were also too stupid to find Machu Picchu! To destroy it. To this day, you can only reach this Inca city via an old 4-day trail or now through an exclusive train route. This of course makes it even more touristy, but it remains so unique that you definitely have to see it! To avoid having to get up in the middle of the night again, we organized the tour over 2 days, including an overnight stay in Aquas Calientes, the endpoint of the train connection. The next day, we took an early bus up to Machu Picchu, where we spent almost the whole day, including the hike to the nearby mountain "Waynapicchu", enjoying the view! It's truly impressive what the Incas created there hundreds of years ago! Before returning to Cusco, we took a quick break in the thermal baths, before the 4-hour torture by train and bus began. We then relaxed in Cusco for the next two days, including enjoying plenty of cocktails 🍹 on Saturday evening, exploring the other half of the city with another Free Walk Tour the next day, and of course continuing to try Peruvian cuisine.