By M.Swint
Southern hospitality at it’s finest, but one thing that I will always associate the city of New Orleans with is the fine way they prepare their food! 🦀The food in Nawlins or NOLA as many call it, is simply to die for. Spending 5 days there was just not enough time to get the whole NOLA experience. NOLA is not Disneyland by any stretch, it can be classified as an adult playground, not really catering to children.
New Orleans downtown was my center of focus as my wife and I, and 7 of our good friends explored the city of New Orleans. 😜 If you want a romantic getaway for you and your spouse, think NOLA .
- Great food
- Great entertainment
- Great Hotels
- Great Hospitality
All these great things are a recipe for a good romantic time and a good vacation.
In New Orleans there are various attractions. The French Quarters is the number one attraction in downtown New Orleans, in particular, Bourbon Street. On Bourbon Street you can find many places to eat, live entertainment, bars, clubs, hotels and people of many sorts, and more people. If you have ever heard the expression the freaks come out at night, that would certainly describe Bourbon Street after dark.
First thing first, we had to taste the New Orleans style food, A stop at Pier 424 Seafood did not disappoint.
Pier 424 Seafood Market on Bourbon St.
Brenda Ary in the middle
Canal Street is also one of the main areas in the French Quarters , this Street is jumping as well, many celebrities are spotted in the French Quarters, all in all if you like people watching, you are in the right place.
Historical Note: You can’t go to New Orleans and not think about Hurricane Katrina…..
New Orleans has certainly bounced back from Hurricane Katrina. The mention of Hurricane Katrina was not the topic of conversation in NOLA , however if you were to ask anyone about Katrina they would gladly afford you the conversation, but many people in New Orleans did not exile their city, and I could certainly see why many stayed in New Orleans as I was eager to take a deeper glimpse into the city.
Bourbon Street Before and After Katrina
Soooooo…. What did we do in NOLA?
Essence Magazine host a festival in New Orleans every year, The Essence Music Festival featuring some of the best Music artist in the business, just to name a few Mariah Carey, Maxwell and P. Diddy or is it Puff Daddy now, not sure if anyone cares anymore, lol, but anyway, The Concerts were for 3 of the 4 nights of our 5 day stay, however I was not in New Orleans just for the Essence Fest, I was there to explore the city, to see why so many people talk about NOLA
During the Essence festival weekend, there many parties and events. We had the opportunity to go to the Essence experience event at the New Orleans Convention Center where you will find celebrities, exhibits and local food stands. The Convention Center was within walking distance from our hotel, speaking of hotels……
Where did we stay?Being a Hilton Honors member I chose to stay at the Hilton St Charles on St Charles Avenue. Beautiful hotel, highly recommended, very up to date and friendly staff, I would definitely stay there again.
The Hilton St Charles New Orleans
At the Superdome for the Essence festival Concert Series.
Essence Concert
Doug E Fresh gave the best performance
My wife and I did a city tour by way of trolley, not to exciting, not much to see on the out skirts of downtown, didn’t cost much to hop on and off the trolley just a few stops here and there, however, I really wanted to go visit the plantations, but the only way I would be able to do that…>>> rent a car or book a tour, time just did not permit. Previous to my arrival to NOLA, I researched a few of these Plantations and I’d like to pass them on to my readers. One of the main Plantations I kept hearing about was Oak Alley.
- Oak Alley Plantation – Tours/ Breakfast and Brunch http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/
- Southern Oaks Plantation – http://southernoaksplantation.com/
Another excursion I planned to do, but again time did not permit…. to do a food tour, but I’m glad I didn’t, because everywhere I went I was able to sample a little of this and a little bit of that. But be careful, There were many food vendors right on the Street, but I wasn’t feeling these Vendors, because we noticed all of there stands, tables and fryers were left outside overnight, did not look sanitary.
But honestly, everywhere I went to eat, the food was great! Even Popeye’s chicken. So here are my restaurant recommendations:
Food Section
Charbroiled Oysters at and stuffed Lobster at Drago’s
Crawfish Omelette with Mothers famous Ham and Biscuits
Long lines at Mothers, had to get up early.
Breakfast across from the Hilton St. Charles Hilton hotel, Daisy Dukes Seafood Omelette to die for, trust me!
Me and my buddy Ron doing raw Oysters at the 424 Seafood Market
As Arnold Schwartzenegger would say I’ll be back!
New Orleans, aka The Big Easy, should be on most seasoned travelers bucket list, why? Because this city is full of travel goodies as I like to call it:
- Louisiana style food
- Bourbon Street
- Plantations
- Tours
- Entertainment
- Hospitable people
- Many Restaurants
- Nice weather
- Swamp tours
- And much much more
Yes, I will be back, usually I don’t do repeat trips unless it’s something there I feel that I absolutely missed. The plantations ; The Swamp tours, what about the 9th ward damage from Katrina, I missed these attractions, I didn’t even get a chance to taste a Beignet or Oyster Rockefelle, so guess what, I will return in the near future. Hotels $$ and flights $$ were not expensive.
If you plan to go to New Orleans, it’s a trip worth experiencing, don’t listen to the negative and plan ahead😁 you will not be disappointed.
Please feel free to give me your feedback and comments on New Orleans, and visit my Facebook page as well as my Instagram page for more pictures of New Orleans. swinttravelblog.com
Meet The Author
Welcome to Swint Travel Blog! My name is Mark A Swint and I enjoy Traveling or you can say that I have the travel bug. The purpose of this website is to share travel ideas and travel tips that will invite inexperienced travelers as well as those who are well traveled get away and try something new. My family and I have traveled to many places around the United States as well as the Caribbean, Central America, and Europe. My goal is to get viewers and bloggers excited about going to see places you have never been. (Switching Careers) Living in beautiful Michigan all my life, I currently work in the Auto Industry, however it is my goal to switch to the hospitality/travel industry in the near future. There are so many places on my bucket list for travel, please feel free to share your travel experience with me so that we can have an exchange of ideas.
Thank you for visiting my website and I hope that the pictures and the travel tips get you motivated to try some place new!
Happy Travels!
M.Swint
Swinttravelblog 