Peru Classic
The Cradle of the Inca Empire - from £1567
It is difficult to go anywhere in Peru without stumbling upon some ancient reminder of Peru's past. Peru is blessed with a rich and ancient past and a vibrant present, making it one of South America's most popular travel destinations. Thousands of archaeological sites are found all over the country, ranging from 10,000 year old camp sites of early hunters to the monumental stone walls of sixteenth century Inca Cuzco.
Cuzco
Four roads once led from Cusco's main square to the four corners of the Inca empire that extended from what is today Ecuador and part of Colombia to northern Chile and Argentina, including all of Peru and Bolivia. An empire almost as vast as the Roman empire, the Inca nation was connected by a road network over 14,300 miles. Cusco was more than just a capital city. It was an administrative, military and holy city, similar to Mecca, and is now the oldest inhabited city of the Americas. Many kinds of architecture are found here and one's eyes can feast on their splendid variety and combinations.
Machu Piccu - The lost city of the Incas
An astonishingly well-preserved sacred city. Gazing across the ruins, with its perfectly set stairways, dwellings, fountains and still functional aqueducts, is a haunting experience; so intact is the city that at times it seems its residents have only recently walked away. How Machu Picchu's legacy ended is a great mystery.
Nazca Lines
Discovered in 1927 by Paul Kosok and studied by the Dr. Maria Reiche. They form a assembly of mysterious and inexplicable beings drawn up in sands of Pampas of the same name. The figures of the colibrí, the spider and the monkey among others are distinguished. Due to their dimensions, that in some cases reach 10 km in length, and by their dispersion that as a colossal rug covers around 700 square kilometers, these drawings only can be observed in all their magnitude when flying over the zone. The student Maria Reiche, recently passed away, fascinated by the mysterious grafismos, resided forty and five years in the place and worked in an interesting theory on her meaning, cradle in the mathematics, astronomy and agriculture. But she also has who suppose that the drawings would be messages of beings arrived at our planet in immemorial times, and that left evidences to their pass by the place. These giant animal and geometric figures were believed to be etched on the desert sands by Nazca people 1,500 years ago.