21 May 2014

New Orleans, USA: beautiful porches, balconies and beignets!

New Orleans, located in the southern state of Louisiana, is a major port in the States and had been established by the French. I went there ostensibly to see the NOLA jazz festival but found myself wandering the city taking pictures of the beautiful balconies and porches.

Just outside the festival

The architecture there has been strongly influenced by the French and Spanish and the houses certainly reminded me of Europe. Each balcony, however ramshackle, is pretty, with wrought iron railings and the porches usually have delicate wooden latticework. The houses are sometimes surrounded by painted wooden fences and always have beautiful windows that may be solid or pastel in color with wispy lace curtains.






Cafe Du Monde, New Orleans (open 24 hours)
800 Decatur Street,
New Orleans 70116

This is where we had the famous beignets of New Orleans. It is the place every tourist visits and is right in the middle of the French Market (a wonderful street market serving octopus and alligators with a free walking tour every Monday at 10.00 am).

We went there every afternoon for some of the world's best beignets, coffee and hot chocolate.

A beignet (be - ne) is a fried pastry served with powdered sugar. It was brought to Louisiana by the French and traditionally had pieces of fruit or meat in it. To me, it looks like a soft fluffy pillow that tastes somewhat like a doughnut and leaves puffs of powdered sugar all over the table. In short, delicious.