Play the 'word association' game with New Orleans and Louisiana and chances are jazz, seafood, voodoo and swamps will feature prominently.

Well, with the first two already taken care of, and an airboat swamp tour set for Monday, Sunday in the Big Easy was all about the voodoo.

Having sat through the Bond classic that is Live and Let Die to get us in the mood prior to departure (many scenes were filmed in NO you see), we set off on the trail of the city's more mystical edge.

First port of call was the St Louis Cemetery, a stunning place that positively drips character.

With elegant tombs standing shoulder to shoulder with crumbling wrecks dating back to the city's first few decades, this is history at its best.

But if it is voodoo you want, there is only one place to make a beeline for – the tomb of Marie Laveau.

Laveau was the best-known, and most powerful, voodoo priestess in the nineteenth century, dominating a city that holds the mystical arts in such high regard.

And her tomb still holds a fascination today, as the tour groups will testify.

The tomb is littered with offerings asking for assistance and guidance, including most memorably a note pleading with Laveau to aid someone in the removal of a 'skank ass bitch' from their life.

New Orleans is littered with voodoo shops, some serious and some obviously playing to the tourist crowd, but all enjoyable nonetheless.

In the evening we elected to go on a voodoo walking tour round the French Quarter, which in all honesty proved a bit of a disappointment.

With our host eager to debunk the myths of black magic and instead portray voodoo as a relevant, and worthwhile religion (which is the truth after all), the talk was informative but far too dry, and at times preachy, for our liking.

We did get to see a few more sights though, such as Laveau's former home, and Louis Armstrong park, so it was far from worthless.

I just hope my image of alligators as being vicious man-eating predators are not similarly dashed tomorrow.......