Train Ride to Machu Picchu, Peru Poster

"Train Ride to Machu Picchu, Peru" by Catherine Sherman. The only way to get to Machu Picchu is by walking the Inca Trail or by train. We opted for the train. We took a PeruRail train that left Cusco, Peru, before dawn and arrived in Aguas Calientes, Peru, in early morning. Aguas Calientes is the town at the foot of Machu Picchu. It sprang into existence after the discovery of the Incan ruin of Machu Picchu and has grown to a lively town full of hotels, shops and restaurants serving the tourists. When you depart the train, you next line up for a bus that takes you up the hill to Machu Picchu. You can also walk up the hill. They say it takes 90 minutes to make the walk from the town to the site, but I think it would have taken me all day. The Inca city of Machu Picchu is thought to be an estate of the Inca emperor Pachacuti, who ruled 1438 to 1472. The city stands at 7,972 feet (2.430 metres). Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire and was abandoned in 1572. This citadel is probably the most familiar icon of Inca civilisation. Although the Machu Picchu citadel is only about 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Cusco, the Inca capital, the Spanish never found it and consequently did not plunder or destroy it, as they did many other sites. After Machu Picchu was abandoned, the surrounding jungle grew over the site, and few knew of its existence. American historian Hiram Bingham brought international attention to the site in 1911. The National Geographic Society devoted their entire April 1913 issue to Machu Picchu. In 1983 UNESCO designated Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site, describing it as "an absolute masterpiece of architecture and a unique testimony to the Inca civilisation." In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll. In 1981 Peru declared an area of 325.92 square kilometres (125.84 square miles) surrounding Machu Picchu as a "Historical Sanctuary" It's a very popular tourist destination, but because of the pressure of it being loved to death, tourist numbers are limited each day.