From
The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, September 2008
Catch New Orleans on a quiet afternoon and the city will be taking a nap: the
sun shines on rickety wrought-iron balconies, while the odd busker sets up
in a shop doorway.
Catch it at midnight and you’ll see a different side: Bourbon Street’s neon
signs flaring, trumpet notes blasting across the sky, and whisky glasses
clinking like percussion for the band.
New Orleans loves to party. (The quiet moments in-between are merely the
hangover.) Founded on swampland, hemmed in by the Mississippi and Lake
Pontchartrain, its precarious position has made living for the moment a fine
art.
Residents need little excuse to push the party button – they throw more than
20 festivals a year, and even in the low season (steamy summertime) you’ll
find them sinking pints with oysters at the bar. Nola’s (as in New Orleans,
Louisiana) wayward spirit has bred great art, too.
Jazz was born here – along with Louis Armstrong and Wynton Marsalis – while
the French Quarter has played muse to Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote.
And as a city with one of the most eclectic histories in America – founded
by the French, ruled by the Spanish, and then the French again before
Napoleon sold Louisiana to the Americans in 1803 – life in New Orleans is a
cultural gumbo stew of African, American and European heritage.
Hurricane Katrina pressed the pause button in 2005, but even she couldn’t stop
the music. Three years on, you’ll find New Orleans back on track: ancient
(by American standards) history shaping the forward-thinking present; and
sublime jazz clubs amid the scents of Bourbon Street. As autumn cools the
summer heat, now’s the time to party.
OLD NEW ORLEANS
The French Quarter – six blocks by twelve, up against the Mississippi – is the
oldest part of town, with rows of 19th-century houses fanning out into
districts of dinky cottages. Filled with antiques shops, jewellers,
galleries and boutiques, Royal and Chartres Streets make for the best
ambles. Pedestrianised Jackson Square touts itself as one of the prettiest
in America. Ignore the cartoonists and fortune-tellers alongside St Louis
Cathedral, and you might agree.
New Orleans has been famous for its voodoo since the days of mystic Marie
Laveau – she’s been the inspiration for everything from musicals to Marvel
comics. Get a taster at Voodoo Authentica
(00 1 504 522 2111). Priestess Brandi Kelley sells more than 100 types of
voodoo dolls and gris-gris bags (for potions).
Spook yourself on a cemetery tour. Early New Orleanais soon worked out that
bodies buried in the waterlogged soil had an alarming habit of resurfacing
after a downpour. So they built vaults above ground, and today these are
prime tourist sights (as well as the backdrop to scenes in Easy Rider and
Interview with the Vampire). See the tombs of Marie Laveau and civil rights’
campaigner Homer Plessy. St Louis No 1 is the most interesting, but it’s not
the safest of places, so join a tour. Save
Our Cemeteries (00 1 504 525 3377) runs visits every Sunday at 10am;
your £6 fee goes towards the upkeep of the tombs.
For a Tennessee Williams moment, hop on a streetcar and head up St Charles
Avenue to the Garden District. The white clapboard houses are quite a show,
from big to downright palatial. St Charles Street and parallel Prytania
Street, between First and Fourth, are glorious, with terraces, palm trees
and flowers on show.
Back in 1952 I have been in New Orleans for two months as an apprentice in cotton business and I will never forget the emotion I had from this unique city. Its athmosphere can be found no where in the world and I can say this after having traveled a lot afterwards. New Orleans is great !
Roberto Castellano, Salsomaggiore, Italy
I was there in May. I found Bourbon st to be very seedy with many strip clubs. The jazz bars expect you to buy an expensive drink every 15 minutes and get very pushy if you don't. The cab fare from the airport is $60 for four. I am glad I saw it but I will not be going back.
Gary, Dallas, Texas