Beautiful but bothersome

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April 26th 2007

Published: April 26th 2007

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draak

Cusco

Plaza de Armas. Odds on you will see a parade or demonstration of some kind during your visit

We arrived in Cusco at 6 am after a night drive from Puno. We were very grateful that rooms were ready and we could move straight in. After a bit of a rest, we started our exploration of Cusco with a chinese lunch. We hadn't had chinese for a while and it was interesting to see how the Peruvians did chinese. The wonton soup had pieces of chicken in it with only a couple of empty wontons, and generally they used too much ginger.

We found Cusco a very special place. The beautiful churches, colonial buildings, the Plaza de Armas. The town sits in the hills making it very picturesque. The town is very geared up for tourists with a good selection of restaurants and plenty to tour operators.

One thing which we really dislike about Cusco is that every 5 seconds you get bothered. People selling you postcards, tourist tat, tours, massages and if you walk past a restaurant they try to pull you in with the promise of a free drink. Also the taxis are constantly beeping their horns at tourists.

There is a tourist card in Cusco with a whole bunch of ruins and museums

Cusco

Avenue del Sol

on it. It is worth 70 sols. We went to see all the museums on the ticket, and as many of the ruins as possible. If you go, it is worth getting this ticket. The ruins that we visited were Sacsayhuamán, Qenko, Pukapukara, Tambomachay, Tipon, Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Pieter's favourite was Tipon. Tipon was one of the nicest ruins he had seen. It is nicely reconstructed, and kept in very nice condition. It is situation high in the hills. From the town of Tipon it took half an hour to get there by taxi. The views were stunning.

On the tourist card is Santa Catalina Museum. The old monastery contains a collection of religious art which is interesting. But the building itself is more worth the visit. There is a beautiful little chapel with 18th century murals on the wall. That was the highlight.

Sitio del Qoricancha is also on the card. This is a little museum under a park which used to be the site of an Inca settlement. The museum was a little rubbish, no english explanations, but some lovely mummies. It is worth it for the mummies.

Another part of the old inca site

Cusco

One of the less touristy restaurants

is contained within the walls of the Santa Domingo monastery. You pay 6 sols to get in and you will be rewarded with a fantastic monastery as well as inca buildings still standing around the courtyard. It is quite a unique place to visit.

Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporneo is on the tourist card. The building is very impressive. It is another wonderful old colonial building. They had the fountain going for a while which was great. The art was not to our taste. Still worth going for the building, it is on the tourist ticket.

Cusco is one of those places that we wouldn't mind going back to.

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