Situated about 29 miles from Cuzco, close to the railway line from Cuzco to Machu Picchu, is the ruined village and fortress of Ollantaytambo. It is a vast construction rising above terraces built from huge stones. The stone was quarried about four miles away on the hillside above the Urubamba river. It was then dragged to the site on wooden sledges by teams of laborers.
Manco Inca retreated here after being defeated at Sacsayhuaman. In 1536 Hernando Pizarro tried to take the fortress but the [G 11 / Inca] defeated him by flooding the plain below through previously prepared channels. Pizarro's army began to sink and had to retreat. Thousands of victorious Inca soldiers then chased them down the valley.
Ollantaytambo may only have been intended as a temple by the Inca, and used simply as a refuge when they were under attack during the conquest. At the top of the terraces, there is a temple where area walls were apparently being constructed at the time of the conquest and were never finished. The village below the fortress/temple was carefully constructed. The living accommodation was divided into blocks with a courtyard in the center and houses built around it.
