New Orleans is home to jazz and a lush jazz culture unlike any other in North America. Nowadays, it retains an atmosphere of wealth and idleness. All of this makes New Orleans a truly amazing place that attracts lots of visitors. 

Top interesting facts

So, here are some interesting facts you may not know about New Orleans.

1. The most remarkable and famous in the whole world, Shrovetide, is celebrated in New Orleans. Every year, before the start of the Catholic Easter Lent, the city hosts the Mardi Gras carnival, which preserves the spirit of the circus, which, in its ambition, has long been ready to compete with the action in Rio de Janeiro. 
2.  There are virtually no beaches around New Orleans. For ocean experiences, go to Pensacola, Florida. Which, however, is not so far away.
3. In 2005, New Orleans was tortured by Katrina, the most devastating hurricane in US history. As a result, almost 2 thousand inhabitants died, about 80% of the city was underwater.
4.  Much of New Orleans is below sea level, which primarily affects burial. It is impossible to bury the dead in the ground here because you immediately pour water instead of earth. Thus, many famous cemeteries appeared in the city, in which the deceased rest above the ground: in crypts or simply small elegant objects.

5.  No one notices Catholic fasting in the city because Voodoo practically rules new Orleans. Nowhere else in the world does Voodoo culture express itself in the context of a fully formed metropolis.
6.  An impressive tour of New Orleans can be taken without leaving. In 1993, the Sierra company released the computer game Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, in which the legendary city (and its surroundings) is presented in great detail. The game is made in the genre of a quest, does not require a quick reaction, and conveys the realities of Voodoo impeccably accurately.
7.  New Orleans served as a major slave transportation point to America. Therefore, the number of blacks here has always been much higher than in other cities in the United States. While segregation and other racial prejudices that were the legacy of the slave era flourished throughout the country, New Orleans reigned in a relaxed atmosphere and always had a special scent of freedom.
8. Summer in New Orleans is incredibly black heat. The city, melted by high temperature and humidity, gives out such a unique combination of aromas and meanings that tourists can recommend it in this state. Particularly impressive are the outlandish insects, which, however, are not as interested in communicating with humans as they might seem at first glance.
9.  Beads are decoration and the official currency of the New Orleans Mardi Gras carnival, something that people throw at each other for no particular reason during the holiday. Sometimes nuts painted with gold paint, including coconuts, are used instead of beads. Many local girls on the day of Mardi Gras willingly show their breasts right on the streets of the city in exchange for another portion of beads.
10. In the city’s main square, where slave owners let their slaves dance on Sundays, European instruments met with African rhythms. This is how the local original musical culture was born, which gave rise to the emergence of traditional New Orleans jazz, a style of early jazz music. In New Orleans, Louis Armstrong, Joe Oliver, Kid Ory took their first steps towards a musical career.
11.  Humor in New Orleans is black in the truest sense of the word. It’s not that cruel; it just always touches on the issue of death.
12.  After the civil war, the fathers of New Orleans had a brilliant idea to gather all the port whores in one area in order to control the process of love for sale somehow. In 1917, Storyville, a New Orleans red-light district, was razed to the ground.

Pretty interesting, right? Hopefully, we surprised you with a fact or two. Come to New Orleans and explore even more unexpected things.