The Incas & Conquistadors + Lake Titicaca holiday visits Puno and Lake Titicaca

Apart from Lake Titicaca, there are a number of excursions that can be made from Puno, including traditional highland towns and some wonderful archaeological sites.

Apart from visiting the islands, the main excursion in the Lake Titicaca area is to the ruins of Sillustani, 30 minutes from Puno. These are chullpas, or funerary towers, and the earliest at the site date from the Colla civilisation around 600AD, although many of the towers are from the Inca period. There are over 60 towers at Sillustani, and the style of the chullpa varies according to the person who was being buried. The tall towers were built in the Inca period and have very fine stonework and were used for the burials of rulers. The smaller towers were used for less important people, and there are also common tombs which are completely subterranean. Sillustani is wonderfully located on the shores of Lake Ayumara, and the chullpas are very beautiful against the skies of the altiplano.

An interesting trip from Puno is to the towns on the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca. The road from Puno follows the lake for the first few kilometres, and you can see many totora reeds growing in the water, and in the dry season there are bundles of reeds drying in the sun.

The first town passed is Chucuito, a small town with beautiful views of the lake. The most interesting attraction in the town is the Inca Temple of Fertility, a small temple with dozens of metre-high phalluses ‘planted' in the earth. This temple has been reconstructed in recent years, and the positioning of the phalluses is not original. Most of the phalluses had been taken by locals and the temple was buried and abandoned. However, several years ago there was an effort to put the temple back, and most of the phalluses were returned to their original location. There is also an interesting colonial church in Chucuito, and an Inca sundial.

80km from Puno is the large colonial town of Juli, with a population of 10,000 and good views of the lake. The town is famous for its four colonial churches, which were used to evangelise the indigenous population that the Spanish brought here to work in a now abandoned mine. All four churches were begun by the Jesuits, although when the Dominicans arrived, the Jesuits were expelled from the area, and the churches were completed by the Dominicans. The oldest church in the town is the Iglesia de la Asunción, completed in 1557. This adobe church is now a museum with a good collection of Cusqueña school paintings, including works by Diego de la Puente and Bitti. There is a fine baroque pulpit covered in gold leaf. The Iglesia de San Pedro was completed in 1560, although it was largely rebuilt in the 20th century, and is the only stone church in Juli. The church has some beautiful stone carvings on the ceiling, which dates from the 20th century, and a lovely font of Huamanga marble. The adobe Iglesia de San Juan de Letrán dates from 1570, and is now a museum of Cusqueña school paintings. The church contains some beautiful baroque carved stone columns and windows. The Iglesia de Santa Cruz, from the same period, is close to visitors.

The most interesting town in the Puno area is Lampa, about 90 minutes from Puno. Lampa is known at the Pink City as many of its houses are painted a light ochre colour. Enrique Torres Belón, president of Peru 's congress in 1957, came from Lampa, and ensured that the town received much state funding. Lampa now has a good hospital and sports facilities, despite these being rarely used.

The main attraction in Lampa, the Templo de La Piedad, is also the result of Torres Belón generosity. In 1960, he built a beautiful, marble-covered chapel (where he and his wife are now buried) and got the Vatican to send a plaster model of Michelangelo's statue of La Pietá to Lampa. The agreement was that after casting an aluminium copy of the statue, the mould would be broken. Of course, the aluminium copy was made and the statue of La Piedad is now on display in the chapel, but the plaster mould was preserved. This is now on display in the municipalidad – the town hall – and can be visited. The church in Lampa, where the Templo de La Piedad is housed, is very beautiful and worth a visit in its own right. There is a wonderful carved pulpit and a lovely nave. The church also has some good Cusqueña school painting, and the catacombs can be visited. The church was completed in 1650. If the church is closed, ask in the town hall if it can be opened for you.

Lampa also has a couple of other sights worth seeing. The Puente Colonial is a colonial bridge spanning the river. The Museo Kampac, 2 blocks from the church down Jr. Ugarte, has a collection of Inca and pre-Inca ceramics. The museum contains a wonderful stone Inca Qero. There is also a small chinchilla farm run by the ministry of agriculture in the town.

The area around Lampa is also important archaeologically, and there are many ruins worth visiting. Most of these are chullpas, funerary towers similar to those found at Sillustani. The most interesting sites are the Chullpas de Huaytapata, 15km from Lampa, the Cueva del Toro, where there are some ancient cave paintings, 4km from Lampa, and Ceja de Miraflores, where there are also some chullpas. However, this site is a bit further from the town. Other sites in the area include the Chullpas de Catacha, halfway to Juliaca, Chullpas Cerro de Aukimi, Chullpas de Sutuca, Chullpas de Marno and the Fortaleza de Lamparaken, a Colla site.