My Trip to New Orleans: Travel and Tourism

Recently I took a week-long holiday and jetted to New Orleans, popularly known as the birthplace of jazz and famous for their Cajun and Southern cuisine. Every year tourists flock to this soulful city for the colorful Mardi Gras festivities and deck themselves out in colorful beads as the parade makes its way down bustling Bourbon Street.

Jackson Square, "designated as one of America’s great public spaces" is located in the French Quarter which is close to the Mississippi River. This is a nice place to stroll, relax and take in the sights as cruise ships and river boats make their way past the city.

I spent most of my time in New Orleans shopping and sightseeing and although my aversion to seafood, fried food and many meats limited my dining experience I did try some local delights such as blackened cajun chicken over creamy penne pasta. There were many restaurants that served traditional dishes like jambalaya, gumbo and one of Louisiana’s favorites- po’boys which are sandwiches traditionally topped with roast beef or fried seafood.

When I was searching for tours to take many of them had to do with cemeteries, churches, the bayou or voodoo so we rented a car and did our own sightseeing.

(Sunset over New Orleans)

Although Canal Street was nice, the city is quite small which made getting around on foot or by trolley easy. At night Bourbon Street is crowded with people stopping to take in some jazz, have dinner or drink, drink and drink some more!

Many of the buildings still maintain their rustic, southern charm which reminded me of old western films but Bourbon Street wasn't as clean as I expected.

I also took a 5 day cruise aboard the Carnival Elation, I have cruised 9 times thus far and although Carnival is not my preferred cruise line, for a short journey the ship was decent.

The cruise stopped in beautiful Cozumel Mexico which I visited 5 years ago and Progresso Mexico which was quite underdeveloped. The town in Progresso was a bit unsavory and there were men in the streets holding guns which made me feel a bit unsafe although they were probably there to protect the tourists!

The ship did have some great comedic entertainment and the Serenity Lounge on the back deck had beautiful views of the ocean. I was difficult being cut off from the world for five days and after 24 hours of seasickness I was ready to be back on solid ground again!