the Cost of Walking Tours

We took a tour of an island (actually a salt dome, but for all intents and purposes, it seemed like an island) in Louisiana - in bayou/Cajun country. This island used to be mined for salt but isn't being mined any longer. It had an incident about 20 years ago in which an oil driller drilled into the mine, flooding it and causing a whirlpool which covered 65 acres of the island. This, as well as the old and beautifully decorated house on the island, made for an interesting tour. There were also peacocks, banana plants, and an extensive garden. The house dated from about 1850 and was still decorated in the style of the time.

The tour was short but fun. The guided part of the tour covered the house only but gave us lots of interesting information about the stage actor who used to live there, his habits, the wealthy family who bought the house from him, and what high society did at the time. We saw the rest of the island on our own.

Make sure you know what exactly the tour covers - we thought it would be the whole island but it was only the house and the servants' quarters. That turned out to be fine because it was fun to explore the rest of the island by ourselves.