HOUMA, La. -- The German-Acadian Cultural Tour, offered year-round
by Cajun Tours here, explores southern Louisiana's Acadian, or
Cajun, culture as well as the region's less-well-known German
roots.
"Germans helped the Acadians get established in the Bayou
country," said Sandra Pellegrin, president of Cajun Tours, "and
this tour focuses on the [area's] German and Acadian heritage."
German people settled the area in the early 17th century,
Pellegrin said. They were followed in the middle of the 17th
century by the Acadians, French Canadians who were escaping
religious intolerance in their native Nova Scotia, she said.
In contrast to the Germans, the Acadian people maintained their
distinct cultural identity.
"The Germans ended up marrying the Acadians here and helped them
build their communities and get established," Pellegrin said. "When
we visit the Acadian communities here, there's a lot of German
culture here, too," she said.
The four-night motorcoach tour spends two nights in Gretna, a
community founded by Germans and located across the Mississippi
River from New Orleans, followed by two nights in Houma, the base
from which the Acadian country is explored. Sightseeing and all
meals are included.
Based on a minimum group size of 35 people, the tour is priced
at $599 per person, including the chartered coach, or $499 per
person if the coach is hired through another company. Commission is
10%.
Groups of up to 80 passengers can be comfortably accommodated,
and individual travelers also can take the motorcoach tour,
Pellegrin said.
Sites visited in Gretna include a German-American heritage
center and museum, at which a traditional lunch is served, and St.
John's Catholic church, whose art shows the skill of German
craftspeople, Pellegrin said.
A day across the river in New Orleans is spent visiting the
National D-Day Museum, followed by a three-hour city tour and
dinner and Cajun dance lessons at Michaul's Live Cajun Music
restaurant. The tour then takes River Road, along which German and
Creole plantations are visited.
"When we drive down that road, we point out plantations the
Germans established in the 1700s, raising sugar cane and produce,"
Pellegrin said.
South of Houma, the group visits Bayou communities, she said,
where travelers meet with local "alligator hunters, fur trappers
and [shrimp] net makers and view alligators and birds in their
natural habitat."
A two-hour swamp boat tour the next day takes place on private
property that is not hunted on, "so there's a tremendous amount of
wildlife on it," Pellegrin said.
That afternoon is spent walking through the 28-acre, privately
owned "Backyard Wildlife Habitat," certified by the National
Wildlife Federation.
The property owner, who is a naturalist, points out birds and
flowers, and he and his wife serve afternoon refreshments.
Also in tune with the spirit of southern hospitality, the tour
includes a dinner at a local plantation home. The dinner is hosted
by a family of sugar cane farmers who discuss their trade with
guests.
For details, contact Cajun Tours at (800) 916-8687; fax (504)
851-6460, or e-mail [email protected].
Self-drive itineraries adaptable for
coaches
NEW ORLEANS -- Agents with groups can get ideas for regional
motorcoach tours from the Louisiana Office of Tourism's Travel
Agent Reference Guide.
Although the tours described in the guide are self-drive
packages, the itineraries in many cases can be adapted to fit
groups, operators said.
In addition, Travel New Orleans, Hotard Vacations and
Destination Management, three of the four wholesalers that
participate in the annual agent guide, have their own motorcoach
divisions.
Michelle Meyer, domestic sales manager for Travel New Orleans,
said itineraries are usually custom-tailored to suit groups,
"depending on the age of the group, and the [desired] slant and
focus," but groups often follow similar itineraries.
With groups, Meyer said, the hotels listed as options in the
Travel Agent Reference Guide itineraries usually work well and have
sufficient capacity.
The most quaint and personal aspects of independent tours might
not be adaptable to a motorcoach tour -- spending an overnight with
a Cajun family, for example.
However, a group need not be sheltered from local color in this
colorful state, where visits to shrimp fisheries, plantations,
swamps and the Tabasco factory and Jungle Gardens on Avery Island
might easily be on a motorcoach tour agenda.
As for plantations, a statewide tourist attraction, Meyer said
they differ markedly among themselves, based on variables such as
how wealthy the family was, whether they were French or
Anglo-American, what crop they grew and if the family resided there
year-round.
Two of the most popular plantations visited, both along River
Road in Vacherie between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, are Oak Alley
and Laura plantations.
The tour of Oak Alley Plantation focuses on the house, a Greek
revival-style mansion surrounded by 28 columns, which was built
between 1837 and 1839. At Laura Plantation, much of the history
comes from one individual, rather than a succession of owners.
Tours are based on the chronicle of four generations of a French
Creole family. Laura Locoul, an elderly woman living in St. Louis,
wrote the history for her daughters in 1936.
"It's not about the house or the furniture, but about the people
who lived here," said Joseph Dunn, director of sales.
For more information, contact the Louisiana Office of Tourism at
(800) 227-4FUN.