world reviewer
Stuart James
Photographer Stuart has to trek to the sites offering the most amazing images.
Stuart James's activity
- 16 Oct 2009
Stuart James reviewed Coricancha Museum in Cusco, Peru
The Coricancha was the 'Temple of the Sun', dedicated to the Sun God Inti, and was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. The walls and floors of the temple were once covered in gold, and in the golden courtyard were full sized statues made of go…"
Stuart James reviewed Museum of Religious Art (Museo de Arte Religioso) in Cusco, Peru
The Museum of Religious Art has an interesting collection of religious paintings, memorable for their attention to historic detail – especially when it comes to the relationships between the conquistadors and the Incas. One of the most unique gall…"
Stuart James reviewed Plaza de Armas in Cusco, Peru
The Plaza de Armas is graceful in a Spanish colonial way. So much is made of Cusco's Incan architecture that normally lauded Spanish colonial architecture gets a bit of a raw deal, but this plaza in the centre of town has some of the prettiest buildings…"
- 15 Oct 2009
Stuart James reviewed Pisac in Cusco, Peru
Most people visit Pisac on Sundays for the big local Sunday markets, but there are also markets on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a pretty main square lined with craft shops that's open every day of the week. As well as shopping, Pisac also has its own ruin…"
Stuart James reviewed Salinas de Maras in Cusco, Peru
The Incas collected their salt by evaporating salt water in shallow pit terraces, and in this valley are thousands of these pit pools. Photographers love this site, apparently it's wonderful to photograph when the sun glints off the drying salt pools."
Stuart James reviewed Moray Ruins in Cusco, Peru
Some of the most impressive of the Incan agricultural terraces can be see at the Moray site. There are terraces around Machu Picchu, so most visitors to Cusco with see some, however the Moray terraces are 'in the round', like a giant amphitheatre. Expe…"
Stuart James reviewed Pre-Columbian Art Museum in Cusco, Peru
The Pre-Columbian Art Museum has on display some of the Incan treasures found in and around Cusco and the Sacred Valley. The artefacts are shown in ten specialist galleries and include jewellery in gold silver and other metals, stone carvings, pieces in…"
Stuart James reviewed Church of Santo Domingo in Cusco, Peru
The spot this cathedral has been built on has long been thought sacred. Prior to being the cathedral's site held the Coricancha, which was a key Incan temple, the corner stone in their elaborate astronomical studies. Running out of the Coricancha were …"
- 14 Oct 2009
Stuart James reviewed Hatumrumiyoc & the Palace of Inca Roca in Cusco, Peru
One of the most impressive features of the Incan sites in the Sacred valley is the way they're built using stones cut into all different shapes and sizes then slotted together perfectly – it's why some many Incan structures have survived when young…"
Stuart James reviewed Tambomachay in Cusco, Peru
Water and washing seemed to be an important part of Incan life, and many of the archaeological sites in Peru's Sacred Valley have baths and aqueducts as prominent features, but bathing seems to have been such a large part of life in the ancient settlemen…"
Stuart James reviewed Puca Pucara in Cusco, Peru
Puca Pucara is within the grounds of the Sacsayhuamán Archaeological Park. One of the smallest sites in the park it's built on top of a rocky hill, and looks like a basic fort with a high stone wall round the outside and rectangular buildings ins…"
Stuart James reviewed Q'enko in Cusco, Peru
Q'enko is just north of Cusco on the top of Socorro Hill, and one of the least visited of the Incan sites around town – probably because the site is considered interesting but not spectacular on the same scale of some of the other local sites &ndas…"
- 13 Oct 2009
Stuart James reviewed Temple of the Condor in Sacred Valley, Peru
The rock formation the Temple of the Condor sits on is condor-esque, but the Incas shaped it further so that it clearly depicts a condor in flight, wings outstretched. If you haven't got the gist there's a condor head carved into the floor, which it's s…"
Stuart James reviewed Temple of the Three Windows in Sacred Valley, Peru
Hiram Bingham thought the unusual large three window design of this temple were significant proof of how important Machu Picchu was to the Incas. In front of the windows there's a tall pillar and a stone that looks like a tombstone with steps on the top…"
- 12 Oct 2009
Stuart James reviewed Phuyupatamarca in Sacred Valley, Peru
Phuyupatamarca has quite a complicated layout of defensive walls, buildings and paths between. It's built around the top of the hill, overlooking the valleys below – it's a defensive position, but also one that provides beautiful views. When the …"
Stuart James reviewed Sayacmarca in Sacred Valley, Peru
The Inca Trail passes just beneath Sayacmarka, which you can only reach via a very precarious set of stairs – sheer drop on one side, sheer rock face on the other. This Incan fort and settlement is laid out along the top of the ridge. Its roofs a…"
Stuart James reviewed Runkuraqay in Sacred Valley, Peru
Runkuraqay could have been a post office, or a supply store, or a guard house, whatever it was it was definitely in the employ of the rulers at Machu Picchu,. It's called the Egg Hut because of the shape, and it's fortress-y look. It's about halfway up…"
Stuart James reviewed Llactapata in Sacred Valley, Peru
Llactapata translates to llacta: town and pata: high, so there are several settlements that may have shared this name, though the most famous one is the one viewed on the Inca Trail route to Machu Picchu. Hiram Bingham re-discovered the dozen ruined bui…"
- 18 Apr 2008
Stuart James reviewed The Inca Trail in Sacred Valley, Peru
I have to prefix any review on the Inca Trail with the knowledge that it has changed dramatically since I first travelled it in 1988 (pre hoards I’m told) and is probably different again since my last trip taken in 2002 when it began to be considered the…"
- 07 Dec 2007
Stuart James reviewed Ghadamès in Tunisia
This oasis town, fashioned from pale mud blended with lime and palm leaves, is a place like nowhere else. Built by the Berber people who still live there now (but have been moved out to the newer suburbs to better preserve their original houses!), the b…"
