Ollantaytambo

In the Sacred Valley of the Incas, through which the Vilcanota River flows and 70 kilometers northeast of the city of Cusco, the Incas captured their imperial significance in one of the most fabulous architectural complexes: Ollantaytambo.
Its location between the Inca capital and the jungle, "a particularly useful node in the route network", provided it with a strategic military position, as well as for state administration and control of the exchange of goods. Precisely that function was assigned to it by the Inca Wiracocha when he founded a tambo there, Ollantay, which was a place of transit, of temporary residence.
It was Pachacutec, the first sovereign of the Hanan dynasty, who changed the destiny of Ollantaytambo and the history of ancient Peru. He ordered the tambo to be set on fire as a symbol of the end of the Hurin dynasty, to which Wiracocha Inca belonged, and rebuilt it to the extent of its imperial projection.
Ollantaytambo is the axis between MacchuPicchu and Cusco. It is the most strategic center of the valley and was considered the second most important city after Cusco. It was also the center of exchange for products such as coca leaves and corn, in a barter system between the towns near the edge of the jungle and with those in the mountains. This place has 600 hectares of archaeological sites that the Incas built along their valleys. Thus, when visiting one of these places you could see terraces, temples, granaries and aqueducts that came down from lagoons or streams with the final purpose of irrigating the terraces in the form of pyramids, along the slopes of the mountains.
In this enormous complex, the Incas reiterate their genius in the use of "lithic technology on an architectural scale." It is made up of several ceremonial sites such as the Temple to Water, the Ñusta bath, and the Temple of the Sun with its enormous monoliths, among others. In addition, buildings dedicated to astronomical observation, administrative functions, urban, livestock and agricultural areas.