The first thing that you need to get your head around is the term NOLA.
It is everywhere (almost as prevalent as the weed) and I was a bit slow in picking it up. The first letters of “New Orleans” and the state abbreviation for Louisiana, LA, combine to derive the nickname ‘NOLA’ and it is used everywhere.
The next thing that you need to know is to forget any form of communication you may know. These people are totally unintelligible, even if they are speaking English. New Orleans language has been influenced by many other languages ( including Spanish, African, Creole, Cajun, and Caribbean) and a general laziness. The result is total jibberish said with a strong accent.
We were approached by beggars on the street (who we assumed were asking for money) who were so unintelligible that we just shook our heads and walked on. Not that we typically give to beggars, but I honestly couldn’t even guess what they were asking for. If you cannot make it clear to me what it is you are begging for, then your chances of getting anything are literally zero.
Louisiana was originally settled by French colonists who were later joined by French aristocrats fleeing slave revolts in the West Indies or the French Revolution. They were soon joined by the Spanish and Acadians (present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island), who came to be more commonly known as Cajuns.
The Arcadians started coming in 1764 when the British started kicking them out of Canada. By the early 1800s, nearly 4000 Acadians arrived and settled in Louisiana. Many lived in the bayou country where they hunted, fished, trapped, and lived off the land and Mississippi River.
By the 1810s, the Acadians had evolved from a single group of poor subsistence farmers into three distinct groups.
- First, there was a small group of wealthy, slave-owning cotton and sugar planters,
- there was a small group of middle-class Acadians made up of farmers and artisans, including blacksmiths, carpenters, and bricklayers.
- a very large number of Acadians continued to labour as subsistence farmers, mostly without slaves.
While the upper and middle-class Acadians adopted the customs of the region’s elite, the poor Acadians preserved the values and traditions of their ancestors. This mass of poor Acadians intermarried with other ethnic groups in South Louisiana eventually creating the Cajun people.
New Orleans – N’awlins – N’Orleens
New Orleans is a city of around 370,000 people on the Mississippi River, near the Gulf of Mexico. It is known as the birthplace of jazz and has been nicknamed the Big Easy. It’s known for its round-the-clock nightlife, vibrant live-music scene and spicy cuisine.
Our journey saw us setting off on cruise ships in and out of the port of New Orleans on four separate occasions (over a month or so) so we kept popping in and out, experiencing different bits each time.
The first foray was to fly in and spend the first day doing the obvious trip into the French Quarter. We were staying up near the sports district and Caesar’s Superdome (the local footy stadium).
So a quick right turn for a few blocks and another right onto Canal Street for the first leg of the tourist journey as we were passed by the infamous streetcars. For a measly $3 each we could have ridden all day on the buses and streetcars, getting on and off as much as we wanted. Interestingly the HOHO bus takes you a pretty similar (but less inclusive) route as the streetcars but charge $46 rather than the $3. But having been cooped up in a plane, we were ready for the walk.
There are five streetcar routes servicing the main part of the city with three of them starting at the French Market and four of them transiting the Canal Street hub.
- the Riverfront line – runs along the Mississippi River between the French Market and the Conventions centre and the Aquarium of the Americas;
- the Canal (City Park/Museum) Line – connects the French Market with the city park and the museum of art
- The Canal (Cemeteries) Line – services Canal Street from the riverfront to several historic cemeteries.
- Rampart/St. Claude Line – that runs through the CBD and into the French Quarter (the modern day line that mirrors the one written about in the famous play).
- St. Charles;
The Historic St. Charles Streetcar Line is the odd one out. It intersects with three of the other lines (in the CBD) but it is the longest and the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world. It runs vintage trolley cars (read not air conditioned or disabled friendly) and travels from the CBD through the Garden Districts (lower and upper – read past the old plantation homes), and makes stops at the Audubon Zoo, World War 2 Museum and Lafayette Cemetery.
This was the highlight of our time in New Orleans. We hopped on it near Canal Street in the heart of town and did the full run out to the end, got off and onto another and rode back to where we started. The architecture and pride in the homes along the way was astounding.
The transport mob even offers a free, GPS-enabled audio tour for most of the Streetcar network so that you get the spiel as you rattle along.
A Streetcar Named Desire
Much of the fame of the New Orleans comes from its ties with the Tennessee Williams (1947) play A Streetcar Named Desire. When the play was published in streetcars ran all over the city.
The real Desire Streetcar ran through the French Quarter, passing along Bourbon Street.
In 1948, the year after the play’s publication, the Desire line was replaced with a bus.
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street embodies the life of a party town. The street dates back to 1718 and is rich with historic venues and iconic buildings. The street is lit by neon lights, throbbing with music and decorated by beads and balconies. This place is almost single-handedly keeping live music alive. Everywhere you go there is a live band (day or night) all the way along the street.
The live music is awesome, but the area itself is pretty grotty with numerous homeless begging on the streets (imagine kings cross back in the 80’s). You will no doubt be accosted by one of them asking for money if they can guess where you got your shoes (you got them on your feet). And the whole place smells of stale beer, urine and weed.
While we were cruising in and out of New Orleans some mad bastard (ex military from Texas) decided to drive his rented pickup truck (with a black ISIS flag on the back) into a crowd of New Year’s revellers on Bourbon Street. When the truck stopped he then decided to get out and start shooting people until police finally shot and killed him. The result was 14 dead, dozens injured and a ramped-up security presence when we next came to town. The final washup showed that he had also placed two bombs along his trail that were not detonated.
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras, (French for Fat Tuesday,) begins on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, and ends the day before Ash Wednesday, aka Shrove Tuesday. It essentially reflects the practice of gorging on rich and fatty foods ahead of Lent, the 40 day-long fasting period that follows in the days leading up to Easter.
Some places kick off the festivities as early as November but most celebrations occur in the two weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday, which this year is 1 March. Mardi Gras is a high-energy holiday (dating back as early as 1703) incorporating the traditions, music, parades, partiers decked out in wigs and wild outfits, dancing, and general revelry.
Carnival dates back to the ancient days of pagan spring and fertility rites, much of its origin derives from Medieval Latin. New Orleans welcomes nearly 1.5 million visitors annually to take part in the Carnival festivities — ranging from elaborate parades with decked-out floats to glitzy costumes with dazzling headdresses, feathers, and an excess of glitter.
While many parades and parties take place during the celebration period, the Krewe du Vieux is the most anticipated as it’s one of the earliest parades of the Carnival calendar. It consists of more than 40 themed-parade processions, showcasing some of the top brass and traditional jazz bands in New Orleans.
Steam Boats
On 20 October, 1811, the steamboat New Orleans set off on a journey of more than 1,800 miles down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers arriving in New Orleans on 12 January 1812. The original steamboats were designed for cargo and within a decade, steamboats would link the nation’s interior like nothing had before.
In the heyday of steamboats (circa 1840) there were about 450 boats cruising the Mississippi. But they started to go out of fashion when trains proved to be more efficient. The only two steamboats left in New Orleans are operating as tourist rides.
Cajun Food
The one thing that stands out above all else down in Louisiana is the food. The ubiquitous burgers, hot dogs and tacos of America give way to a much more interesting (but still predominately brown) list of menu options. Cajun cuisine is a mix of French, Spanish, Native American, and West African influences that draw from locally available ingredients (crawfish, shrimp, and andouille sausage) and simple preparation.
Typical Cajun ingredients include:
- Andouille—a spicy smoked pork sausage
- Boudin—a pork blood sausage
- Chaurice – a sausage similar to Spanish chorizo
- Chaudin or ponce—a pig’s stomach, stuffed with spiced pork & smoked.
- Ham hocks
- Wild boar or feral hog
- Head cheese (brawn) a meat jelly or terrine similar to a jellied meatloaf,
- Gratons—hog cracklings or pork rinds similar to Spanish chicharrones.
- New Orleans hot sausage—a spiced sausage reddish in colour.
- Tasso—a highly seasoned, smoked pork shoulder
Étouffée pronounced Ay Too Fay – is a dish of shellfish, simmered in a sauce made from a light or blond roux served over rice. It is most commonly made with crab, shrimp or crawfish.
It is typically flavoured with Creole or Cajun seasonings.
Gumbo is a fantastic stew of strongly-flavored stock, meat or shellfish and vegetables usually served with rice.
We got it at a (not so) dodgy chain store (Daisy Dukes) with amazing service and it was incredible.
Jambalaya—The only certain thing that can be said about jambalaya is that it contains rice, some sort of meat (often chicken, ham, sausage, or a combination), seafood (such as shrimp or crawfish), plus other items that may be available.
The crawfish boil is a feast where crawfish, potatoes, onions and corn are boiled in large pots before being spilled out onto large, newspaper-draped tables and covered in Creole/Cajun spice blends.
Oysters Bienville is a traditional dish that is basically just a stuffed oyster. A stuffing is made by making a roux with sherry, bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and adding fillings such as shrimp, mushrooms, capsicum.
Po’ boy—a sub sandwich on French bread. We did the shrimp po’boy (mine with the extra spicy sauce). Most versions involve fried seafood like shrimp, oysters, or catfish.
Muffuletta (pronounced Moo Fa’ lotta) is a huge, round, fat sandwich filled with salami-type meats, mozzarella cheese, pickles, and olive salad.
Praline—pronounced (Praw Lean) a sweet made with pecans, brown and white sugar, butter, and cream.
The New Orleans version claims to be special, but apart from being overpriced, we could find nothing amazing about these.
And certainly not worth the inflated prices.
And finally the Beignet—a square-shaped doughnut style choux pastry made with deep-fried dough and topped with powdered sugar.
Our attempt to get these took on a life of its own. The first attempt saw us at a cafe that had screaming children everywhere so we boycotted figuring we would be back in a week, we would get them then.
A week later (after our first cruise) we were back and aimed for Cafe Du Monde, the most famous and original location for the Beignet. This place is in the heart of the French Quarter and claim to have been serving them since 1862.
The line for this cafe was quite literally over 100 meters long. I do not line up for over an hour for a donut.
One more week on and we tried yet again. But a (possible) terrorist attack saw security spilling from every corner of the city making getting around and public places quite challenging. But we got them, what an anticlimax. They tasted like a deep fried dim sim (old oil I guess) covered in powdered sugar. It cost us $30 Aussie for three Beignets and two coffees (mostly due to a weak Aussie dollar).
The Bayou
A bayou is a slow-moving creek or a swampy section of a river or a lake. They are usually found in flat areas where water collects in pools. Bayous are often associated with the southeastern part of the United States.
The alligator is common in the swamps, bayous, rivers and marshes of Louisiana and other states along the southeastern coast of the United States. Wiki tells me that the term Bayou is most closely associated with Cajun and Creole cultural groups derived from French settlers along the Gulf Coast from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, and picking back up in South Florida around the Everglades, with its centre in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Overview
Despite mass murders, madmen, unintelligible people, an abundance of homeless and weed we actually quite liked our time in New Orleans. The food was much better than in most of the US cities we have been to. And it had a bit of character about the place. I can’t see either of us rushing back specifically to be here, but it was nice enough to experience. The architecture and houses (old plantation homes) around the garden districts were stunning and the neighbourhoods had a safe comfortable feel about them.