New Orleans exists because of a bend. The French founded the city in 1718 on a crescent of high ground in the Mississippi River, a spot that gave them a portage to Lake Pontchartrain and control of the great river's mouth, and the bend still shapes everything, from street names to the way people give directions by river and lake rather than by compass. The city is mostly below sea level, kept dry by levees and pumps, and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the whole country learned how fragile that arrangement can be. People here talk about it plainly and carry on.
The French Quarter, on the high ground, has survived with much of its Creole architecture intact, the iron balconies and courtyards actually dating mostly from the Spanish period after fires in the late eighteenth century destroyed the original wooden town. Louisiana passed to the United States in 1803, and the mix of French, Spanish, African, Caribbean and American influences produced a culture unlike anywhere else on the continent. Jazz was born in these streets, brass bands still march in funerals and celebrations, and you can hear live music most nights on Frenchmen Street without a cover.
The food is serious. Beignets and chicory coffee at Café du Monde are almost a ritual, though the queue can be long, and gumbo, jambalaya, red beans on Mondays, po' boys and oysters are everywhere. Take your time with at least one proper sit-down meal, because lunch here is an event.
As a place to ride, New Orleans is flat, hot, humid and rather chaotic, with potholes that could swallow a front wheel, so city streets demand attention. Beyond the city, the River Road follows the levee upriver past old sugar plantations, oil refineries, small towns and big skies, a strange and moving ride that holds both beauty and a painful history, since the plantations were built on enslaved labour. Some of the houses are museums that now tell that story more honestly than they once did.
Fuel and food are no problem within the city and the suburbs. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, while summer is steamy, with thunderstorms most afternoons, and hurricane season runs from June to November. Carnival, ending on Mardi Gras, fills the streets with parades and crowds, so book ahead and expect closures.