Photos

Perhaps the most beautiful Maya site in all of Mexico is Palenque. It's set amidst lush banana groves and giant palms. Palenque is one site about whose history we know quite a lot because numerous hieroglyphic inscriptions remain. The city was first occupied more than 1500 years ago. But it rose to prominence under a club-footed king named Pakal, who reigned from 615 to 583 BC. During Pakals reign, many plazas and temples were built, including the well-preserved Royal Palace. From its tower, Mayan royalty could observe the sun falling directly into the Temple of Inscriptions across the street, during the winter solstice. Today, 34 of Palenque's nearly 500 buildings have been excavated. Each one an architectural gem. And they're decorated with finely crafted stone and stucco relief figures that give us a glimpse at how the Maya lived thousands of years ago.

This shot was taken from the platform of the Palace of Inscriptions (where hyroglyphs were found) with the zoom lens at its widest 28-mm setting without a tripod. Tripods are not allowed into the archeological site.