Simon Calder: My Grand Tour would start at the 'navel of the world'

Patrick Leigh Fermor knew a Grand Tour when he saw one. The writer now lives in a beautiful house on the Mani peninsula on the Peloponnese, which tumbles from Kardamyli down to the Mediterranean. But 75 years ago this week he set off to walk the length of Europe: from Hook of Holland to the city that is now Istanbul but was then Constantinople.

In an era when young men tended to go abroad only to fight for their country – which Leigh Fermor would later do with great distinction – he was keen to understand the complexities of the Continent. Thirteen months later he arrived at the far end of Europe, on the shores of the Bosphorus. He later repaid the kindnesses he received along the way by giving the world A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water.

Today, we celebrate the Grand Tour, with three writers choosing their ideal destinations. When asked the same question: where is the essential stop on a 21st-century Grand Tour? I surprised myself by answering without a second thought, "Cusco".

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Marketing folk expend much time dreaming up slogans for destinations. So far, though, none has matched the claim of the Peruvian city; one that should, I reckon, be on the schedule of every global grand tourist: "navel of the universe". This was how the most remarkable civilisation in the Americas defined its mother city. The Inca empire straddled the Andes, extending at its height from present-day Chile to Colombia. And Cusco was at its heart.

Within a few decades of the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century, the Inca emperors had been overthrown with dreadful cruelty. But the capital they created endures as a tribute to a people who compensated for what we would see as technological shortcomings (no wheels, no writing, no horses) with ingenuity, imagination and collective effort.

Talking of effort, Cusco will make you gasp, literally. Most people arrive by air from Peru's capital, Lima. When catapulted from sea level to 11,000 feet in an hour, humans struggle to cope.

The gods chose a curious position for their navel. Cusco is draped beautifully, though awkwardly, over a hillside, about halfway to heaven. Its shape resembles a puma, a beast held by the Incas to be sacred. The head, in the north, comprises the ancient Inca ceremonial site of Sachsayhuaman; a kind of Machu Picchu for beginners, if you like. This vast complex comes alive each midsummer at the solstice celebration. But at any time of year, the site provides a breathtaking introduction to the scale and intricacy of Inca masonry.

Once you have got your cosmic bearings and done some navel-gazing from the hilltop, stumble down into the heart of the puma. The Spanish-built Plaza de Armas remains one of the most magnificent city squares in the Americas. Besides the handsome cathedral, and colonnades topped by galleries, in the south-east corner you can see the exquisite baroque façade of a Jesuit church built on the site of an Inca palace. Yet the Spanish left untouched much that their predecessors created, as you discover when you explore the cobbled streets of this thriving city. Many of the Inca walls remain intact, including one with an implausible 12-sided stone.

After sunset, Cusco comes alive with indulgences to suit every grand tourist. Sip one of a dozen varieties of tea in front of a huge open fire at Song Thé. Procure a massage at Andina Spa. And, if you are a meat eater, dine out at least once on the local delicacy, cuy – the guinea pig that sustained the Incas' navel. No, it doesn't taste like chicken; it tastes like rat.

Cusco is going to get much busier in the next couple of years. The reason: 24 July 2011 will mark the centenary of the "discovery" of Machu Picchu by the adventurer Hiram Bingham, and stimulate interest in all things Inca. A good reason, then, to discover the navel of the universe before the rest of the universe arrives.

A version of this article appears in the December issue of British Airways’ ‘High Life’ magazine, published by Cedar Communications

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