Travel - Where the Saints go marching in

An American city like no other, the ‘Big Easy’ invigorates the senses with a tantalising blend of sights, sounds, and flavours. Story and PhotographY by Craig Sisterson
New Orleans is a lot like its world-famous cuisine; vibrant, spicy, and packed with layers, texture, and life. A melting pot of diverse ingredients, thrown together and slowly simmered to create something completely unique, alluring, and full of flavour. Right from its beginnings in the early 1700s as a French outpost where Native Americans and Africans – both slave and free – intermingled with European settlers in a way unseen in the British colonies, Nawlins’ (as the locals call it) has been, well, different. Nowadays, it’s still completely unlike any other US city, the black sheep of the American civic family – both carefree, lively, and interesting, as well as gritty, wounded, and raw.

It is hard to visit New Orleans without thinking of the hurricane that devastated the city five years ago, flooding its streets, battering its spirit, and horrifying the watching world. Perhaps no New Orleans landmark symbolises the city’s resurrected spirit, the hope that rose from despair, like the rebuilt Superdome. The fully-enclosed football stadium was home to the New Orleans Saints, poor performers year after year in the NFL, before becoming shelter and a not-so-safe haven for hordes of citizens after the levees failed. Following Katrina many assumed the Saints would relocate, leaving behind their ruined stadium and city. Instead the team became a beacon for the rebirth of New Orleans; the players, management, and fans banding together to help rebuild more than just buildings. And then earlier this year those formerly woeful Saints won the Super Bowl against the favoured Colts; the city’s first-ever championship.

Unsurprisingly for a city famous for its annual Mardi Gras, the parties and parade following that victory were reportedly huge. But then, New Orleans has always been famous for its ‘eat, drink, and be merry’ approach to life, regardless of the occasion … or lack of one. Spectacular food and pulsating music can be found throughout the city, but for visitors the Bacchanalian heart sits in and around Rue Bourbon (Bourbon Street) in the French Quarter. But there’s much more to ‘the Quarter’ than all-night partying. Take a wander down the intimate streets of the city’s oldest district during the day, passing beneath intricate wrought-iron balconies and past the patios and porches that make the area so great for people-watching, and you’ll find history, community, and culture to go with great food and entertainment. Art galleries and museums intermingle with gumbo cafes, burlesque clubs, historic Absinthe houses, and restaurants in Creole cottages reputedly built by 18th century pirates.

Take your pick of any stop for lunch or dinner; you can’t go too far wrong in New Orleans when it comes to food. Try some Jambalaya (rice cooked with chicken, spicy sausage, veges, herbs, and spices), Gumbo (a slow-cooked thick savoury broth packed with meat or seafood), or Etouffée (shrimp or crawfish smothered in spicy vegetables and seafood stock). Each chef gives such classics their own spin, and more often than not the words ‘taste sensation’ spring to mind. Or you could stroll a few streets to a seemingly nondescript red brick building on Poydras Street on the edge of the CBD. A New Orleans institution, Mother’s Restaurant has served its famous ‘po’ boy’ sandwiches to locals, visitors, Presidents, and movie stars for more than 75 years, treating everyone the same. No dress code, no reservations, just line up by the counters and take your chances. I recommend the ‘debris’ (little bits of roast beef in gravy) or the soft-shell crab po’ boys. Delicious.

Outside the central area, it’s worth taking the St Charles Streetcar out to the Garden District, where the streets are filled with historic stately homes. A walking tour is a good option; for the architecturally inclined, there are plenty of styles on offer, from Greek-inspired columns to the gabled roofs of Queen Anne Victorians, as well as some spectacular cast-ironwork. Colonel Short’s Villa at 1448 Fourth Street has an iron fence that looks like a row of corn stalks. You can also spot a few ‘celebrity’ houses, like those owned by Interview with the Vampire author Anne Rice, or take a stroll through above-ground tombs at historic Lafayette Cemetery. Another quick lunch recommendation; hop back on the streetcar and head to a Greek-styled building on South Carrollton Ave – the iconic Camellia Grill is a modern-day rarity, an old-fashioned 1950s-style diner serving simple but fantastic food with some panache.

But while tourist-friendly pockets of New Orleans like the French Quarter and Garden District now only harbour emotional scars from Katrina, if you take a drive out to the Lower Ninth Ward you can still see plenty of physical effects. Street upon street of urban wasteland, overgrown grass and empty sections, and occasional husks of still as-yet-undemolished houses, where thriving communities used to be. New houses are going up, often thanks to volunteers from organisations like Habitat for Humanity, but the going is slow. So travellers who fancy a bit of ‘voluntourism’ amongst their sightseeing could be welcomed, and even get to play their own hands-on part in the ongoing rich history of a very unique city.