Ollyantaytambo

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TOWN!   I could live here……  Ollyantaytambo is a picturesque town lying at 2800m above sea level, on the Patakancha River, near where it joins the Urumbamba River.  It is known for its:

• magnificent archaeological Inca sites
• extensive agricultural terraces on the mountains either side of the valley, all the way down to the river
• the Inca storehouses for grain, with their unique ventilation systems
• quarries of rose rhyolite used for the buildings
• several chullpas: small stone towers used as burial sites in Pre-Hispanic times
• some of the oldest continuously occupied dwellings in South America
• the starting point for the Inca trail
• the train to Machu Picchu

We only spent a couple of hours here but one could spend weeks exploring the various sites.