We're not immune to the kitschy charm of the tourist trap in its many guises. But we have a bit of an allergy to tourist traps which protest all the more mightily that they are Historic and Important! Still, we were taken in by the looks of this Dominican town built as an anachronistic present and, potentially, the only slice of "authentic" culture with which most tourists are represented.
The town of Altos de Chavón was a Gulf and Western employee's extravagant birthday present to his 18-year-old daughter: A faux-Italian pile paved in cobblestones, it overlooks a gorgeous valley cut by the Chavón River and a wilderness that seems totally untouched by human life. One night we dined at the very good Italian restaurant La Piazzetta and found ourselves peering over a balustrade, lit by a gorgeous sunset. You could almost see what would have possessed Charles Bludhorn to import a Hollywood set designer to recreate a 16th-century village nowhere near one of the country's famous beaches.
