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Temple at Pisac

Our next stop was a temple ruin at the town of Pisac.  It was built up into the side of the mountain, probably so that the original residents could have a good view (and advantage) of any visitors, be they friend or foe1

Countryside at Pisac

Here’s one of the first views after arriving at the temple ruins.  You can clearly see the road that our van drove up to get us close enough to be able to walk the rest of the way into the ancient city and temple ruins.

Terrace Wall at Pisac

I like this image because it really gives you a good idea of how large the terraces are.  I’m standing right next to the wall of an upper terrace – it’s probably about 6 feet tall or so.  And, the path and grass area are the “floor” of the terrace level we’re on – you can see that it is actually very wide (as I mentioned in a previous post).

Burial Sites at Pisac

This is rather morbid, but interesting.  The “holes” in the sides of the bluff are actually the burial sites used by the ancient people (Inca’s) when people died and needed to be buried.  In an odd way, they kind of look like ancient honeycombs.

Jeff Along the City Wall of Pisac

Here’s another interesting image that tells you quite a bit about the ancient city/temple of Pisac. Jeff is on the path leading to the entrance doorway to the city.  It is believed that there was some sort of wooden door that was kept closed until whoever approached was allowed entrance to the city.  The path then wound around and eventually up to the higher level where the actual city is. 

Door to the City

Here’s a better view of what I was talking about.  I’m standing just outside the doorway to the city, and you can see how the path just sort of winds around.  Check out the wall, too.  Very high and unable to climb so a surprise attack would not be very easy to accomplish.

Looking Down from Pisac

I like this view a lot.  This is the view from much closer to the actual ancient city of Pisac.

Steps Between the Terraces

In case you may have wondered how people got from one terrace to another, in this image you can see that they built in steps every so often to allow people to climb up….or down!

Enjoy!