Inca Adulation
There are few places which innately "feel like" the center of the known world and this is one of them. Greek mythology places the navel of the earth in Delphi, where its powers equipped the oracle with foresight. Polynesian culture settles the planetary belly button (also an "outtie") on the coast of Easter Island, while the Inca cultural belief endows the first Inca (ruler), Manco Capac, with finding the "qosq'o" right in the center of what Spanish colonization has linguistically morphed into the city name of Cuzco. From the 12th century until conquest by Francisco Pizarro in 1533, Qosq'o was the capital and literal center of the Inca world.
It is not "corny" to aptly describe the oldest continuously inhabited city in South America as "grand". Qosq'o has become an amalgamation of firm Inca foundations, topped with colonial architecture.
The Spanish conquistadors took pride in leveling each Inca cultural center along the pillaging path, and where deemed appropriate, replaced native structures with imperial icons. Such is the case with the cathedral of Cuzco, placed on the foundations of the razed 12th Inca's ruling palace.
If one can set aside the conquistador bludgeoning of the Inca populous, the Plaza de Armas is stunning. The central garden is the best kept I've seen in South America. If you can find an open bench, sit and soak in the ambiance. Anytime of day is perfect and you just might need the rest from the less dense oxygen availability at this altitude. (I couldn't decide which "cathedral picture" to post, so you get them both.)
Look up to catch a glimpse of exquisitely crafted towers, ...
... or enjoy a fountain-side moment. The senses seem to be stimulated by the emitting energy of this former capital city.
Befitting any major Spanish colonial center, there is no shortage of very large churches. "Kitty corner" to the cathedral is the equally impressive Iglesia de La Compania de Jesus. (I hear the tour is worth the effort, but we were all "big churched out", opting to enjoy the external architecture.)
Three main squares anchor the downtown and Plaza San Francisco could easily be spotted from Plaza Regocijo by sighting the bell tower of Iglesia de San Francisco.
We had three main objectives for the day: (1) explore, (2) buy rail tickets to Machu Picchu, (3) find better accommodations. We were well under way on the exploring front and found that Qosq'o has incredible restaurants and I mean that in a local and metropolitan comparison context, i.e. no holds barred this was good food, 4 stars at 2 star pricing. So, filled with brunch we headed to find a hotel and the train station.
Historic Qosq'o is charming for a street plan hundreds of years in the making. By modern standards, each street would be a tight single lane, which could even make a European flinch. Taxi's and locals manage by driving extremely small cars and squeezing up to the sidewalks to pass stopped vehicles only on select streets. For comparison, this was the broadest street I could find, which led down to the central market. (Note the linguistic "middle ground" spelling on the hill side of "Cusco", replacing the Spanish installed "z" with the phonetically Incan "s". )
Western Qosq'o is known for artisan neighborhoods. Hand crafted doors, painted in a blue familiar of the Mediterranean and the Moroccan Rif mountain town of Chefchaouen, pronounced their electric presence on the white building backdrop.
On the way to the new hotel, Hotel Los Ninos, we passed through quadrangles dedicated to tailoring and then entered the music guild neighborhood. (Note the harps carved into the balustrades above the entrance.)
After securing rooms, we headed back through the Plaza de Armas, and on to the train station offices, for information on train tickets to Machu Picchu. Our backpacker sense of monetary perspective was STUNNED. For instance, first class train fare is over $600 USD round trip or a more manageable $140 USD for "backpacker class". Believe it or not all these tickets were sold out for literally months in advance. So, our choice had become "find a way to the town of Ollantaytambo and catch a train from there for roughly $60 USD return. The actual ticketing process takes hours of multiple quaying opportunities, but in the process we met a couple of Dutch guys and decided to split a cab tour of the Sacred Valley with them on the way to Ollantaytambo. Success! Now we were only a single day of touring away from one of life's great aspirational moments, climbing Machu Picchu.
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