New Orleans for The Curious Wanderers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend
Brass, bone, and a river that bends around the dead.
No theme, just the city at its best. The sights that earn their reputation, a workshop or a market, one strange place nobody told you about, and dinner where the food is the point.
Friday: Leeches and a rum bar
- New Orleans Pharmacy Museum
America's first licensed pharmacist's shop from 1823, with leech jars, gris-gris and cabinets of cures; a good first stop for the curious.
- Hové Parfumeur
A perfumer since 1931 that still blends vetiver and tea olive by hand; ask for a sample and a short lesson in the old formulas.
- Cane and Table
A colonial-rum bar and kitchen in a crumbling-plaster room, with a punch list and small plates of rabbit and plantains.
Saturday: Laveau and the Temple
- St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
Entry only with a licensed guide since 2015, past the Glapion crypt where Marie Laveau is said to rest; the white tombs shine at midday.
- Voodoo Spiritual Temple
A working temple, not a shop, with altars, candles and a priestess who will talk; go with respect and leave an offering.
- Muriel's Jackson Square
Creole dinner in a house that keeps a séance lounge upstairs and an empty table for its resident ghost.
Sunday: Carnival suits and a haunted house
- The LaLaurie Mansion, from the pavement
The grey 1832 mansion where Madame LaLaurie's cruelty was exposed; look, learn the story and walk on.
- Mardi Gras Indian suits at the Presbytère
The Louisiana State Museum's carnival galleries hold hand-beaded Indian suits and floats; the Mardi Gras exhibition is the best in the city.
- Jewel of the South
A Creole cottage restaurant named for an 1850s bar, with dim lamps and a drinks list of classic cocktails; the best table is by the fireplace.
Monday: A chapel and a class
- Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Mortuary Chapel
Built in 1826 to bury yellow-fever dead away from the cathedral, with a statue of Saint Expedite by the door.
- New Orleans School of Cooking
A demonstration class in a molasses warehouse: gumbo, jambalaya and pralines, with a sample of each at the end.
- Killer PoBoys at Erin Rose
A po'boy counter hidden at the back of an Irish bar, with a pork-belly sandwich and the Sazerac next door.