"Cusco and the Sacred Valley" a Cusco Travel Page by Paul2001

On my way to the airport in Lima I shared a taxi with a fellow Canadian. As we drove towards the airport we talked about our impressions of Peru. Eventually we discussed the merits of our two visits to Cusco. I came to the conclusion that alot of tourists really do not feel that Cusco lives up to all the great press that it receives. At least that is what my fellow traveler felt. I tend to disagree. I liked Cusco although I could see where my fellow traveler was coming from. She complained that once you get beyond the citycore, Cusco is really just as rundown as any other city in Peru. This is in fact indeed the case. Talking to alot of other travellers who have journeyed to Cusco, I have found that many saw no more that the Plaza de Armes, did the Inca hike or took the train to Machu Picchu and then flew out in a rush. I find this disappointing because Cusco, like any other city of its size requires, more time and investigation to discover all of its riches. Besides the nearby Inca ruins like Sacsayhuaman, Cusco has many great baroque churches and some very fine museums. Furthermore outside of Cusco there are numerous Inca and Huarai ruins well worth investigating but receive few foriegn tourists. In fact so rich in great attractions is Cusco and the Sacred Valley, that I wished I had spent another five days there just exploring it.