Celebrity Xpedition Galapagos and Machu Picchu trip - Machu Picchu - our third of the seven modern wonders of the world
First, a bit of sad news for us. We saw a press release yesterday that Celebrity sold the smaller Xploration and our ship, the Xpedition to Lindblad effective January 1, 2025. Cruises scheduled this year will go as scheduled. Anything in 2025 or late will get a refund or get rescheduled onto the Flora. It is too bad because even at 100 passengers, the Flora is more than twice as big as Xpedition. We felt it was a very intimate cruise experience and that is now gone from Celebrity. We're glad we got to experience it.
As planned, today started early as we had to be on the bus at 7:40 for the ride to the train station. It was a chilly start to the day with temps in the high 30s to low 40s, but the sun quickly took care of that and we had a beautiful day in the 70s.
We made the 30-minute bus ride to the Ollantaytambo train station. While we waited for the train, we caught sight of a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower.
The trains run right on time and we boarded and rolled out right on schedule. The 43km trip took about 90 minutes, arriving at the Aguas Calientes train station. We rode in a Vistadome train with panoramic windows on the side and additional windows along the roof providing more views.
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| Porters, carrying items for hikers walking the Inca trail |
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| This was before Machu Picchu, but those are sleeping pods anchored way up on the side of a solid rock wall - nope, nope, nope |
From the station, we made a short walk to where we picked up a bus for the ride up to Machu Picchu.
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| The town and the river running through it |
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| A carving by the river |
You can walk a 2.2-mile trail, but it would be a taxing walk of several hours, so this was a much better choice.
The ride up the hill hits up to a 27% grade and has 14 switchbacks along the way.
Finally, we arrived at Machu Picchu and caught our first glimpses.
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| The main part, known as The Citadel, plus surrounding homes and mountains |
Machu Picchu was built around 1450 and was forgotten for many years. The Incas abandoned it and hid it from the Spaniards. It remained unknown until a Yale professor, Hiram Bingham, discovered it in 1911. With funding from Yale and The National Geographic Society, he led an expedition to clear the vegetation and exposed Machu Picchu to the world. National Geographic ran a feature in 1913 and Machu Picchu became a well-known archeological site.
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| The stonework is amazing - look at all those planting terraces in the background |
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| Inside the house of the leader of the group |
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| So many levels going up |
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| The homes had thatched roofs like the one on the house in the background |
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| Even the spiders here are interesting weavers |
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| Construction mixing organic stone structures with manmade - the sloped stone at the entry is part of the hill |
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| The inside of the room was formed with cut stone |
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| This was an observatory of sorts - the two windows align with the sun's position on two equinoxes - a line drawn into both windows intersects at a 47-degree angle - exactly double the Earth's axis tilt of 23.5 degrees |
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| Another sleeping quarters |
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| A king-sized bed slab on the floor - it would have been covered in straw and bamboo with alpaca coverings |
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| The tree was planted by archeologists in the spot where the only piece of gold was found |
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| A veranda off the back of a leader's home |
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| Next was a climb to the top of another structure and an optional climb from there to the top of one of the smaller mountains - one look at the first set of stairs and my knee suggested that I sit this one out - Arlona and most of the others soldiered on |
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| She got even better views from higher-up |
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| There were two possible climbs - they did Huchuypicchu - baby mountain - but a big baby |
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| This guy hitched a free ride with Arlona for a bit |
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| The river below |
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| The altitude didn't phase this moth |
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| Our intrepid climber at the top |
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| The whole group of brave soles who conquered the climb |
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| On their way back down |
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| Arlona spotted this rabbit hanging out on a wall |
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| This is the head of a much larger structure that when viewed from far above resembles a condor |
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| Part of a fountain system that brought water down the mountain |
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| That mountain beyond the thatched roof is the one Arlona climbed |
As I waited for the group to return, I spent some quality time with this dude.
We joined back up and exited the site. It was time for lunch and lucky for us, lunch was close - just a minute walk from the site.
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| The entrance to Machu Picchu from the restaurant |
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| Our lunch venue |
We enjoyed a nice buffet lunch. Shortly after lunch, we were treated to wine and canapes by the train company that would provide our ride to Cusco. Great, more food. They have fed us a lot this week.
Next, we boarded the shuttle for another exciting 14-switchback, 27-degree incline ride down the side of the hill. When we arrived in town, we were given about 20 minutes of shopping time in the handicraft market. We once again helped the local economy with Arlona scoring a lovely set of matching multicolored stone jewelry set in silver. I got a couple T-shirts and a ring that matches Arlona's set. We finished up shopping and headed for the Hiram Bingham luxury train to Cusco.
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| The train was very nice with a couple of dining cars and a bar car with live music |
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| Wood trim and a large waitstaff added to the experience |
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| A full dinner and drinks were served - we only had an appetizer as we just weren't hungry |
The trip to Cusco took three hours and involved a climb of about 3,000 feet to 11,100 feet. We exited the train and boarded a van for the 15-minute ride to our hotel - Placio Del Inca. It is yet another very nice hotel. Our room has a full and a half-bathroom, a bedroom, and a sitting room. Did I mention that it is very nice? Celebrity picked terrific hotels.
This has been a bus-train-bus-bus-train-van kind of day. We're tired.
Tomorrow, we start at 9 AM, thankfully, and have a shorter day with a Cusco tour and lunch with some free time in the afternoon. We plan to take it easy, especially with the altitude. Being at a high altitude for the past few days certainly made the transition to this high altitude easier. It's now a little after midnight and it has been an extremely long day. Time for sleep.
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