Machu Picchu was one of the must dos on our travel list when we left home and it did not disappoint. Machu Picchu (which means old mountain) was built by the Incas in the 15th century and its located in the most amazing place with cloud forest covered mountains on all sides. It remained undiscovered until 1911 when an American researcher and historian was brought to the site by a local farmers son and discovered the ruins with 2 families living among them in order to avoid paying taxes to the Peruvian government! Even the Spanish never found Machu Picchu which was fortunate as it meant that it wasn´t plundered and destroyed as happened to many other Incan sites discovered by the Spanish.

We arrived up to the site at 6am and headed towards the Watchmans House and the agricultural terraces to watch the sunrise over the ruins and enjoy the views before the hordes arrived. We briefly wandered through the site and arrived over to entrance Huayna Picchu (the young mountain) where only 400 people a day are permitted to climb to the top of this mountain to get a view over the whole of the Machu Picchu site and to see the smaller ruins at the top of its peak. Huaynu Picchu is a tough and incredibly steep one hour climb but the views from the top over the entire site are breathtaking. We took just over 45 minutes to reach the top and then relaxed up there taking in the views for a long time before we started our descent.

The rest of the day was spent taking in the ruins at a leisurely pace as we were lucky enough to have the entire day to spend up there. Machu Picchu really is a huge site with over 140 buildings and we spent over 9 hours up at the site. Some of the highlights were the Intihuatana (the temple of the sun) where a sundial of white granite stone which is believed to allow contact with the spiritual world is located perfectly in line with the four points of the compass, the temple of the condor, the fortress, the main plaza and the house of the three windows (I´ll let the photos do the talking). The Incas had also developed a very sophisticated and indeed still working system to transport water from nearby springs through the village into houses and water fountains. We spent a few hours just lazing on the main square enjoying the views and soaking up the atmosphere (and the sun!).

It was an amazing day to see Machu Picchu, bathed in sunshine for the entire time and even though it is very touristy, it is so big that you can still find your own little secluded area to relax and imagine what life was like tucked away up here for the Incas.