Our bus trip began after a short walk through the town, from our station drop off point. Buses leave every 15 minutes, beginning as early as 5.30am with the last return bus leaving Machu Picchu at 5.45pm. There are long queues for each bus. Such is the popularity of this UNESCO World Heritage site that access to the Inca ruins can only be made by purchasing tickets and whilst these were once limited to 2000 visitors a day since 2016 up to 4000 people per day, can visit during the high "drier" season. Amazingly even though the queues at the buses and entrance area are long and crowded, walking within the site seems less crowded as the areas are huge and built on several levels. Compared to the crowds in Vatican City or Disneyland in Florida it felt almost empty at times.
The bus route would take us up a long precarious road with a series of switch backs and drop us right at the Control Centre Entrance Gates.
Look at the photo of a map of the area. Find the 3 coloured stars on the map and follow the key to see our bus route. The bus ride took about 35 minutes and it was adventurous in that we often seemed that we could so easily have toppled over the sandy, craggy edges of the roadway as we looked way down into seemingly endless valley floors or ravines. Our "trusty", adept driver took great care, especially when negotiating some very tight corners where only one vehicle could pass at a time. Fortunately for us, the road had recently been graded after a small avalanche of mud and snow had blocked the road during an early spring thawing. We hang tightly onto the bar on back of the seat in front of us, enjoying row-upon-row of breathtaking mountain views and being amazed that a road could exist in such an impassable range of mountains. At some point we sighted part of the old Inca trail,"planted "on side of a mountain. It seemed almost vertical, with seemingly no railings and steep stone hewn steps. We were grateful for the chugging of our 1970's bus that didn't miss a beat as it swayed its' way up the mountain. As we climbed higher we has a closer view of colourful flowers, entangled vines and rainforest trees which drape the mountainside like a giant green carpet. Sadly, we were not able to easily photograph these as the bus often lurched and "threw us around" so we have had to commit these sights to our memories which are fading every day. 
About halfway through our bus ride and at one of the switch-back corners our bus paused so that we could take a photo of a plaque that acknowledges Hiram Bingham who is accredited at rediscovering the "lost Inca City" of Machu Picchu on July 24th 1911. Bingham, an American professor of Latin American at Yale University travelled down the Urubamba Valley by mule with a small team of explorers to find "lost cities" of the Incas. Bingham was assisted by a local guide whom he paid a silver dollar, to lead him up through the thick jungle vegetation to the secret ruins known only to the peasants living in the region. They had kept this secret since the 16th century when the Spanish had invaded, Peru, looting and decimating so many other Inca settlements. Some historians suggest that following the arrival of the Spanish the Inca nobles completely abandoned this site after witnessing the fate of Cusco and other Inca sites to ensure its' protection and preservation.
When Hiram Bingham first came across this best preserved Inca complex (that that was never looted by the Spanish) it was almost completely covered by jungle growth but there were some families living amongst its ruins and using some of the terraced areas for growing crops and raising llamas.
Bingham recognised the importance of the site and brought it to the world's attention after returning the following year to clear much of the jungle and revealing Machu Picchu in 'all its glory, through photographs published in National Geographic in 1913. Since this time thousands of people have been able to appreciate and learn about Inca life and culture as preserved high on a mountain in Peru.
After arriving at the official entrance to Machu Picchu site and passing through security procedures we began an uphill walk towards our destination. We were excited to be almost at the site and we spent time stretching our legs after sitting down through the train and bus trips. The sun was extremely warm now and we were glad that we'd donned hats and sunglasses' and sunscreen for Machu Picchu's elevation is 2430 metres where the air is thinner and the sun's rays can cause more damage than at sea level, as we found in the Himalayas years ago.
We took our time on the uphill climb of a stone paved stairway which followed a path past high stone walls, erected centuries ago as part of the city's outer wall. Reaching the top of the ridge, our first sight of Machu Picchu, almost took our breath away. Before us lay terraced slopes and massive stone ruins surrounded by impressively-high, once seemingly unsurmountable mountains. We were indeed in for a great adventure. Our hearts raced and so did our feet, as we headed for the ancient city's main entrance gate. However, the stone paved stairway down to the entrance was quite steep and the views breathtaking so we had to take care with each step and to remember to stop before taking in more of the views. I (Joy) used my walking poles to maintain good balance on the uneven downward slope. I was aware that I did not want to risk breaking my left ankle again, as I'd done last year in our Canada/Alaska holiday. I'd worn my physio-brace and managed very well. Ken can be seen watching me head towards the stone inner wall with its wide stone Main Entrance Gateway, which is not a gate as we now but a wide opening in the wall Probably it was manned by guards who formed the role of a gate: protecting the city from would be enemy infiltrators and managing the exit and entrance of goods and people. Beyond the inner wall we were to get our first glimpse of the grand stone ruins of the world's most spectacular Inca city ruins and some of the peaks of the beautiful mountains which surround the complex.