southern exposure
America’s deep south is a fascinating mix of historic and cultural sights, new-age cities and beautiful countryside, finds Nicola Corthay.
The air is steamy with the whiff of Caribbean spices and Louisiana swamps. Breezes from the muddy Mississippi stir languidly down streets oily with heat. Music oozes from every building. The booze flows and the jazz bars never close. “Laissez le bons temps rouler,” say the locals: “Let the good times roll.” They say it in French and it doesn’t seem odd, here in the middle of America.
You could do worse than to start your tour of America’s deep south in New Orleans. The city has a European ambience, the Americans claim: it was created by French and Spanish immigrants and largely insulated from the puritan culture of the northern states.
But this isn’t like any place in Europe I’ve been. Here, African and Caribbean influences are strong: voodoo beads click from darkened shops and fiery chillies lurk in rich stews. Nor is New Orleans like any other place in America. The city is chaotic, slightly seedy, unkempt and full of character. It has a reputation for debauchery and decadence. This is the Big Easy. Steamy, seductive and occasionally shocking, New Orleans is many things – but it is never, ever boring.
Five and a half years on from the devastation of hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is also bouncing back. For visitors, the good news is that the historic heart of the city – its French Quarter and Garden District – is set on high ground and was barely damaged by the post-hurricane floods. The city’s population is diminished and some districts remain entirely wrecked, but this needn’t impinge on your enjoyment of the city. Indeed, New Orleans needs the support of visitors. Hotels and restaurants are back in business, the annual Mardi Gras and Jazz & Heritage Festival have almost returned to their pre-hurricane size, and New Orleans has even opened several new attractions, including the world’s largest insect museum (the Audubon Insectarium) and The Museum of the American Cocktail – after all, cocktails were supposedly invented here.
The original heart of New Orleans lies along the banks of the Mississippi River and is known as the French Quarter, though the architectural influences you see today are largely colonial Spanish, with a distinctly Caribbean flavour. With several pedestrian streets, cars banned from around its central square, fast-food chains kept at bay and no traffic lights in the entire district, it’s easy to see why this is America’s most un-American city centre. In fact, this exquisite eighteenth-century masterpiece is one of the few surviving historic city centres in the USA.
Yet the success of the French Quarter lies in the way it combines the peace of the old with the energy of the new so effortlessly. This is no outdoor museum, but a vibrant area of pulsating nightlife, crowded restaurants, and local residents busily going about their lives. The place is packed with music clubs, bars, museums, T-shirt stalls, stores selling tacky voodoo souvenirs, and restaurants catering to tourists’ fantasies by serving up alligator sausage.
New Orleans really is a city that never sleeps. It’s a place that knows how to have a good time, preferably helped along with generous amounts of alcohol. At the heart of the celebrations is Bourbon Street, a seemingly endless parade of youthful partygoers who gravitate towards the cacophony of the street’s nightclubs, strip joints, bars and bizarre novelty shops. Bourbon Street also has plenty of jazz and blues bars aimed squarely at the mainstream tourist market. For a more authentic experience, head to Preservation Hall, which hosts the best traditional jazz outfits in town.
It’s easy to be seduced by the music and merriment of the French Quarter, but it would be a mistake not to head south to the Garden District before you leave. This, too, is an historic part of town in which the original architecture has been carefully preserved.
Back in the French Quarter, Jackson Square is the place to start your focused sightseeing: it’s overlooked by some of New Orleans most historic buildings, including St Louis Cathedral. Civil War-era cannons stand outside the Cabildo, built in the 1790s as the headquarters of the Spanish colonial government. This is the place where the Louisiana Purchase was signed, transferring the state of Louisiana to the United States for the bargain price of US$15 million.
The state has the same flamboyant mix of ethnic influences as New Orleans itself, and it’s certainly worth driving around to soak up the wide-open natural attractions, excellent food and eerie, alligator-infested bayous (swamps) in Cajun country. Along the Mississippi, you’ll also find some impressive old plantation properties. Many of these are open to visitors and some have been converted into hotels.
Georgia is another southern US state that shares with Louisiana an impressive antebellum (pre-Civil War) history of the sort that inspired Gone with the Wind. Among the state’s historic towns are wonderful Madison, with its oak-lined streets and old homes; Macon, in which the streets are lined with cherry trees; and the plantation town of Thomasville. But Savannah, arguably the most beautiful town in the state, has a very special charm. It’s here you’ll find all the stereotypes you’d expect of Georgia, from the slow, southern drawl of its natives to mint juleps (the local drink of choice) and stately houses shaded by magnolias.
Amble around Savannah’s streets and you can soak up the genteel atmosphere of the American south. Spanish moss hangs in eerie hanks from oak trees; cemeteries boast baroque mausoleums and teetering tombstones. Georgian and Italianate mansions slip into elegant decay behind gardens so lush they’re like jungles. On the facades of these houses, balconies erupt like decorations on wedding cakes, while verandahs and porches offer cool shade.
While there is still plenty of traditional charm in Georgia, there’s actually a lot more here, including a beautiful Atlantic coastline, off-shore islands and some outstanding golf courses. You can also explore the old culture and forests of the southern Appalachians.
But the gleaming skyscrapers of Atlanta prove Georgia isn’t all about country charm: the city hosts the headquarters of some notable American companies, such as Coca-Cola, CNN, UPS and Delta Air Lines, and has what is, arguably, the best shopping anywhere in the southeast USA.
For visitors, Atlanta’s balmy climate, leafy streets and surprisingly laidback vibe make it well worth a visit. You can trace the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. through his boyhood home, church and museum, and visit other excellent museums that showcase everything from science to archaeology (and, yes, Coca-Cola). You can also enjoy very good opera, jazz and ballet here.
Head east from Georgia and soon, you’ll be over the state border in Florida. There’s something about an American holiday that’s like stepping into a movie, and countless screen moments have certainly immortalised Florida. Aerial shots of sophisticated Miami dazzle in the opening credits of CSI Miami. In the 1980s, Miami Vice celebrated the Art Deco architecture of South Beach; while The Birdcage showcased its wacky style. Even today, it is a terrific place for people-watching.
And what revhead would miss Daytona, where Tom Cruise felt the need for speed? Kids will have a terrific time here, thanks to its outstanding interactive attractions. More of them can be found at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, where you can also watch an actual shuttle launch if your timing is right.
Near Orlando is the site of some major movie-themed attractions. Meet characters from Disney cartoons and Aliens, and see the Indiana Jones stunt show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, one of four theme parks at Walt Disney World, the state’s number one attraction, at least in terms of visitor numbers. Then take rides based on Shrek, Jaws and Spiderman at Universal Studios Florida.
What’s surprising about Florida, however, is how much of the state remains relatively undeveloped. The jewel in the crown is the Everglades of the far south, haunt of alligators, bald eagles and turtles; adjacent Biscayne National Park is another gem. The classic way to see the shallow waters of the area’s extensive waterways is by airboat (a shallow-bottomed boat propelled by a huge fan), but you can also cycle and hike through the Everglades, bringing you up close to the region’s less obvious pleasures: delicate orchids, ferns and extraordinary gumbo-limbo trees as well as an assortment of birdlife. Let the good times roll, whether it’s in the wilderness of the deep south or its gracious city streets. •
Photography courtesy state tourist offices and City of New Orleans.
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