New Orleans is one of the most colorful, best smelling and pulsing city that you will ever step foot in to. It is a unique place that combines several cultures due to its position at the Gulf of Mexico and mixture of people coming from the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. These people brought their culture, cuisine and traditions along and added it to the town’s secret recipe.
New Orleans is more of an European capital with a southern american charm. One of the things to prove it, are the cemeteries. Actually 42 of them in the city and each family having an own tombs set in cleanly maintained gardens and greenery. At least one of these should be visited for some nice photos for the album. Take a look at the largest of them, the Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery as a part of your tour.
Another site on the list is the Uptown district, with the largest amount of historic buildings. Explore these streets as well as the French Quarter with picturesque townhouses from 17th and 18th century and breathe in the atmosphere of the past. In fact, over 80% of all buildings in this district were built before the year 1935. The Caribbean architectures heritage is represented by simple but beautiful creole houses and Shotgun houses - one, two or three room houses with gable roof. The St. Charles Avenue streetcar is the only surviving streetcar system in the U.S., constructed around year 1922/1923 these vehicles still operate the rails. Hurricanes which tend to threaten the city, like the Hurricane Katrina, do occasionally damage the railways, but people of New Orleans didn’t replace it. Instead of that, it got repaired and streetcars kept as they are considered a national treasure and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
New Orleans is a city of festivals, colors and carnivals. Definitely the most famous one is the Mardi Gras. Even if you visit the city only for Mardi Gras and forget about the rest, you will not regret. Happening usually before the Easter holidays, the city changes its clothes to party clothes. And people changed their as well. Streets full of costumes, dancing people, music, parade, performers and smell of the fresh food and the parade. Some people compare it to Rio, but they each have its own spirit. It’s actually pretty hard to describe with words, you need to experience it yourself.
