Machu Picchu is a 15th century Inca citadel built high atop a mountain in the Cusco Region of Peru. At 7,970 feet, it overlooks the Urubamba River that cuts through the deep canyon below Machu Picchu. The site was discovered in 1911 by an American historian and explorer, Hiram Bingham, who traveled to Peru looking for the Old Inca capital and was taken to Machu Picchu by a villager who lived nearby. It was not until decades later when the government of Peru declared Machu Picchu “a historic sanctuary,” and UNESCO designated Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site, that it became internationally recognized and was visited by travelers.

For me, I visited the site in 1984—only a year after UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site. When I visited Machu Picchu, it was virtually empty on a cold, crisp Christmas day that I was there. I was so enthralled with being there, I returned the next day, to spend another full day hiking the mountains, soaking in the history, and imagining the Inca civilization that inhabited it 500 years before, and the masterpiece of architecture they designed and built.

Machu Picchu was used by the Incas for only about 80 years before abandoning the site. Why Machu Picchu was abandoned is still somewhat of a mystery, but scholars believe the Incas that inhabited the site, died from smallpox disease that was introduced by travelers that came following the first visits by the Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish conquistadors never found Machu Picchu, thankfully, which is why it was not destroyed and plundered like so many other Inca sites were by the Spanish.

To visit Machu Picchu, I traveled by train in the early morning hours to nearby Aguas Calientes, then I walked the empty rail line to the foot of Machu Picchu, about two hours, where I hiked the path up the steep hill to the entrance, on Christmas day. But many travelers walk the Inca Trail to visit the site, starting in Cusco and journeying several days on foot to the Urubamba Valley, then through the Andes mountains to the isolated city. And there are two modern trains now that take travelers directly to the site.