Monday 6.11.23
A walking tour of the French Quarter this morning – but watch out for the pavements! They are very uneven and broken with holes in various places – so as the group wanders around the area those at the front are constantly warning about watching the ground – which makes it hard to observe the architecture and surroundings.
The surroundings are of course fabulous and there are far too many photographs which makes it difficult to select one for the photo in this post. The history is complex – whilst known as the French quarter most of the buildings reflect Spanish influences – here is why.
The French had claimed Louisiana in the 1690’s founding the City in 1718. However in 1763 the area was ceded to the Spanish at the end of the Seven Years War. Two fires in 1788 and 1794 led to subsequent large scale rebuilding during the period of Spanish control – although retaining the “French” designation – which is what we see. Through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 the territory eventually came under the control of the United States.
The French Quarter is not a large area and we end near St Louis Cathedral and then walk to the waterfront so that we can see the departure point of our cruise later in the day.
Lunch, much to the detriment of my normal regime, is beignets which in New Orleans are fried pastries of leavened dough covered with huge quantities of sugar, taken at the Café du Monde – a busy establishment.
We then amble along the river front noting the odd passing tram to the berth of “Creole Queen” – our paddle steamer for the afternoon river cruise. Our destination is the Chalmette Battlefield – where in January 1815 the British went into battle against some sneaky Americans. The British were banging their drums and making a huge fuss as they approached whilst the sneaky Americans quietly hid until they were able to destroy the British soldiers. It was also an unnecessary battle as a peace treaty had been signed in December 1814 but had not been ratified as the news had not travelled across the Atlantic. Our American guides – aboard the boat and also at the battlefield are of course entirely able to maintain their good humour given the poor organisation of British troops and the overwhelming defeat the Americans delivered!
In the evening we initially planned to eat at a nearby hotel – annoyingly a similar sized party arrived just in front of us and took the last table. Annoyed!