Peru has reopened several Inca sites including its most popular, Machu Picchu

MACHU PICCHU, Peru’s most popular tourist destination, reopened 1 November 2020 after an eight-month shutdown due to covid-19. Used to receiving 1.5 million visitors a year, it has had its capacity reduced by 70 per cent to accommodate physical-distancing rules, limiting the number of daily sightseers to just 675, and no groups larger than eight. Everyone must have their temperature taken before entering and wear a mask throughout their visit.

Fort de Chillon, opposite 12th-century Château de Chillon, was part of WWII defences

FROM THE END of November 2020 the Swiss will open the defences carved into the rock opposite the 12th-century Château de Chillon during the Second World War. The tunnels and caverns were part of the “national redoubt,” a series of fortifications begun in the 1880s to defend Switzerland by denying an invader access to the country by controlling its mountain passes. The Fort de Chillon works were constructed in 1941-2, when the country was surrounded by Axis powers, as the system’s western gateway. It had a garrison of more than 100 soldiers.

GUIDE LIGHTS

Tips from the smartest guidebooks

UNITED STATES

Taos, NM

Mabel Dodge Luhan House

One-time New York salon hostess filled her Taos, New Mexico home with writers and artists

TAOS, SAYS THE 11th edition of Moon New Mexico, “has long been associated with artists and writers.” A good deal of that association is thanks to Mabel Dodge Luhan. Luhan, born into wealth in New York state, lived in Paris and Florence before returning to America and setting up a salon in New York City. Art and politics were both up for discussion, and those dropping by ranged from anarchist Emma Goldman to photographer Alfred Steiglitz.

In 1917 Luhan moved to Taos, bought five hectares of land, built a big house (www.mabeldodgeluhan.com) and began to to encourage writers and artists to visit her. Among those who accepted her invitations were Ansel Adams, Georgia O’Keeffe, Greta Garbo, Willa Cathers, Martha Graham, Carl Jung and D.H. Lawrence.

The house, now a compound, lives on, and “is open to curious visitors as well as overnight guests. Knock at the main building first; the caretaker will give you a history brochure for a self-guided tour around the public areas of the house.”

There are 19 rooms to stay in. Tony’s Room, named for Mabel’s husband, comes with the use of the D.H. Lawrence bathroom. Luhan had the bathroom built with curtainless windows. The author of Lady Chatterley’s Lover objected and, “to soothe his sensibilities…painted colorful swirls directly on the glass.”

Dennis Hopper, who edited Easy Rider in the Ansel Adams Room, bought the property in 1970 and ran a hippie version of a salon. It’s now operated as a non-profit foundation, with a small conference centre and a year-round series of workshops on subjects ranging from tapestries to yoga and astrology, anchored by writing, painting and photography.

www.moon.com

ARGENTINA

Mendoza