This is where the story gets really interesting. Until 1911, virtually no one outside the local population knew that Machu Picchu even existed. American archaeologist Hiram Bingham more or less stumbled upon it during an expedition - although local farmers had known about the ruins all along, of course. For the scientific world, it was as if someone had simply discovered a lost city straight out of an adventure novel. “Machu Picchu” literally means “old mountain” in Quechua, the language the Incas spoke and which is still spoken in Peru today.

The city contains more than 150 buildings - temples, palaces, ordinary houses, storage facilities. But the most astonishing part? Those gigantic stone blocks fit together so perfectly that you can’t slip a knife between them. No mortar, no cement, nothing. Just stones carved so precisely that they’re still standing firm after all these centuries, even after all the earthquakes that have struck the region. How they managed this without modern tools continues to amaze scientists.

In 1983, Machu Picchu was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Even better: in 2007, it was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, alongside famous names like the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal. Today, more than one and a half million tourists visit this mystical place each year. That’s fantastic for the Peruvian economy, but it also presents significant challenges for conservators.

Why did the Incas build Machu Picchu anyway? Archaeologists can still debate that question. Some think it was a summer retreat for Emperor Pachacuti - a sort of royal vacation home, but at 2,430 meters elevation. Others believe it was a sacred place where chosen women and priests lived. What we do know: when the Spanish invaded Peru in the 16th century, they had no idea that Machu Picchu existed. The Incas had already abandoned the city, probably due to a smallpox epidemic that spread even before the Spanish arrived.

The location is no accident. Machu Picchu sits on a mountain ridge between two peaks: Machu Picchu (old mountain) and Huayna Picchu (young mountain). From there, you look out over the sacred valley of the Urubamba River. For the Incas, that river was a reflection of the Milky Way - they saw connections between their earthly architecture and the night sky that we can barely comprehend anymore.

Want to visit Machu Picchu? You have several options. The hardcore version is the Inca Trail: four days of trekking through breathtaking mountain landscapes. If you have less time (or want fewer blisters), you can take the train from Cusco to the village of Aguas Calientes, and from there catch a bus to the top. Note: the Peruvian government has imposed strict limits on the number of daily visitors. That’s unfortunate if you arrive too late, but necessary to protect this place for future generations.

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, once wrote about Machu Picchu: “Mother of stone, foam of condors. High reef of the human dawn.” Poetic rambling? Perhaps. But anyone who has seen Machu Picchu for themselves understands exactly what he meant. There’s simply something magical about that place.