Riverwalk Marketplace - New Orleans, LA
Posted by: 
JimmyEv
N 29° 56.722 W 090° 03.715
15R E 783588 N 3316363
If you want to experience the mighty Mississippi, and learn something about it, this is the place to come. An outdoor promenade is built along the riverside of the mall. Not only are the river views excellent, twenty-three interpretive plaques describe the history of, and interesting facts about, the Mississippi.
Waymark Code: WM1D1B
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 04/08/2007
Views: 221
South Peters Street once fronted the Mississippi River. Then the levees were built, cutting off any view of the river from city streets. Although the levees are extremely beneficial at times, to catch a glimpse of the very river responsible for the existence of New Orleans you have to climb the levee. Stretching along the levee from the French Quarter to the convention center is Riverwalk Marketplace, built upon the site of the 1984 World’s Fair.
The Marketplace is one of those indoor malls built to trap tourists and conventioneers. The stores run from the mundane (the Gap and Dollar Tree) to shops hawking New Orleans trinkets that can be found slightly cheaper in the open-air stalls of the French Market. There is a food court – convenient to conventioneers – but food is better and cheaper elsewhere, off the river.
That being said, if you want to experience the mighty Mississippi, and learn a little something about it, this is the place to come. An outdoor promenade is built along the riverside of the mall, beginning at the Plaza de Espana and ending near the convention center. From here, you can see modern day ships plying the river, as well as the paddle wheelers hauling tourists up and down the riverfront. Twenty-three interpretive plaques along the promenade describe the history of, and interesting facts about, the Mississippi, from Riverwritings to Plantation Life. Inside the mall are vignettes of the folks that plied the river and lived along its banks. This is also where the cruise ships (Norwegian Lines) and the paddlewheelers, Creole Queen and Cajun Queen, dock. Tickets for the paddlewheeler cruises can be purchased in a kiosk between the marketplace and Plaza de Espana. If you are not bent on riding a paddlewheeler, the Algiers Ferry, leaving from the Canal Street Ferry Terminal adjacent to Plaza de Espana, provides free riverfront views crossing the Mississippi to Algiers.
