Peru - Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu ("Old Peak") , located above Urubamba Valley, is almost the most famous site in Peru.

It is also called the "Lost city of the incas" since it has been build by Incas many years ago.

The old city, which some believe it has started to build in about 1440, was a place for its people to live until the Spanish conquest of Peru in 1532.

The city was forgotten for several years until 1191, when Hiram Bingham (a Yale archaeologist ) rediscovered it.

After then, the lost city came back to international attention.

In 2003, about 400,000 tourists visited Machu Picchu!

And that surely worried UNESCO that the great quantity of people visiting the site would gradually destroy the monuments.

However, Peruvian authorities believe that there is no problem even if so many tourists visit the city.