Saksaywaman, Cusco

Perched on a hilltop, the citadel of Saksaywaman is located just two kilometres away from the city of Cusco. It lies on the northern periphery of Cusco, the capital city of the ancient Incans. Because of its location, it commands a fantastic view of the entire city and that is the reason it was originally built as a fortress. Archaeologists have reason to believe that it was built by the Killke culture but was taken over and expanded by the Incans. They referred to it as The House of the Sun and this was an important place of worship for them. This is because the sun deity is extremely important in the Incan scheme of things.
The site mainly consists of three platforms or terraces built one on top of the other. The massive walls of Saksaywaman are like other Incan buildings, not held together by mortar. The stones are very skilfully and intelligently cut and made to fit into each other to create a wall. Our guide demonstrated that it is practically impossible to try and slide even a piece of paper between two boulders here. The seams do not have any gaps whatsoever.

You don’t need to rent a car to visit Saskaywaman. You can make a day trip of it by walking to this conveniently located site. Spend at least a couple of hours exploring Saskaywaman. Following this, just relax and don’t forget to drink in the view of the city from the top.