Day 11 - around Cusco

Having arrived last night at our beautiful hotel, which is an old colonial building full of art and lovely little places to sit, we didn’t have to get up too early as our tour started at 9am.  Breakfast was very nice, but the eggs, especially poached took ages, so we were in a bit of a rush, then our guide got stuck in traffic, so we had an extra few minutes to admire the foyer area. 

Our first stop was Qorikancha, the palace of the Inca in Cusco, the sad part being that it is inside the courtyard of Iglesias San Domingo, the Spanish having built a church on top of and around it.  Like parts of Mach Picchu, the quality of the building is astounding.  The Inca people did not use mortar and the best building for the most important places features perfectly interlocked stones of varying sizes, all beautifully dressed.  It must have looked amazing covered in precious metals, before the Spanish invaders took most of it. You're not allowed to photograph the amazing paintings in the cloisters but we managed to sneak one!  We walked from there to the Place de Armes, looking at colonial buildings built on top of Inca walls.  The name for all main squares is Place de Armes because the Spanish used them for military drills. 
Our next visit was to the Cathedral, which is huge and built from red stone, so it is not pretty like the one in Arequipa.  Inside it is magnificent, but sadly we weren’t allowed to take photos.

Then we were back in the minibus to go up the hill to Sacsaywaman, where there is another magnificent Inca ruin, with stunning views across the city.
Our last visit was to the church at San Blas, the bohemian part of Cusco.  After we left Julio for the last time, we headed down the hill back towards the main square. 

We had a pitstop at the hotel while it rained briefly and headed out for a wander round looking at possible restaurants.  Eventually we settled on one but decided to go back later.  In the end the persuasive next-door neighbours got our custom.  After dinner, we went back to the hotel for our very strong welcome drink, a Pisco Sour.

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