Is vacationing in New Orleans high on your bucket list?
New Orleans has so much to offer. In fact, Mardi Gras Day will be celebrated next week! Are you joining in on the festivities?
Have you ever considered taking a river cruise on the lower Mississippi in and around New Orleans?
Imagine exploring unique sites and attractions along the Mississippi River while admiring New Orleans’ beauty.
You will be able to uncover the treasures of Lower Mississippi River cities as you indulge in iconic Louisiana cuisine spiced with the cultural flavors of the region’s past.
Beginning and ending in one of America’s iconic cities, a roundtrip New Orleans journey offers a sample of the South with stops in stunning port cities like Darrow, St. Francisville, Natchez, and Vicksburg.
Celebrate Mardi Gras Day next week
The origins of Mardi Gras can be traced to medieval Europe, passing through Rome and Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries to the French House of the Bourbons. From here, the traditional revelry of “Boeuf Gras,” or fatted calf, followed France to her colonies.
French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville arrived on March 2, 1699, at a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans and named it “Pointe du Mardi Gras.” It was the eve of the festive holiday.
In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated America’s very first Mardi Gras.
New Orleans was established in 1718 by Bienville. By the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in New Orleans, but not with the parades we know today. In the early 1740s, Louisiana’s governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, established elegant society balls, which became the model for today’s New Orleans Mardi Gras balls.
The beloved birthplace of American jazz, historic New Orleans famously exudes a festive atmosphere along the balcony-lined Bourbon Street. Here, in the heart of the famed French Quarter, soulful rhythms lift the spirit.
This year, March 1, 2022 is Mardi Gras Day.
Fat Tuesday is the last day of the Carnival season as it always falls the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
Are you celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans this year? We can help you plan your vacation on a river cruise or land tour of New Orleans.
Ready, Set, Go!
Tillie and Joe James
Tillie James Travel LLC
804.997.9460 | info@tilliejamestravel.com
