Lafayette and Cajun Country, La -
samantha brown's places to love

Arriving at the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival is certainly entertaining for Samantha, who is instantly engulfed in dance and music (Cajun and Zydeco), and gets to watch band favorites jam before packed crowds. Piquing her musical interest, Samantha ventures off to Martin Accordions, who have been crafting custom accordions for major Cajun and Zydeco stars for decades. With a full understanding of the local music, Samantha gets her step on by visiting Glide Studios and learns how the locals dance, Cajun-style. In this neck of the woods, if you are going to eat it better have a spicy kick to do it, as Samantha finds out first-hand after visiting Tabasco and talking John Simmons, a 6th generation family member, about harvesting peppers, the 5 year process it takes to actually bottle the sauce and its global stamp. Hot sauce in check, Samantha takes to the water and farms crawfish with a local farmer, who invites her afterward to a family crawfish boil. Another important component in understanding Lafayette is its deep French history, which includes the derivation of Cajun and how the local culture came to evolve. Samantha learns all about this while visiting the historic village of Vermilionville. What's visiting Louisiana without taking ride into the Bayou? Samantha does just that, as she takes a kayak tour through the swamps and learns about its natural habitats and geological importance. To cap off her trip, Samantha attends a performance by the legendary Magnolia Sisters, an all-female Cajun band, and dances Cajun-style with the locals at the popular Blue Moon Saloon.

Duration: 26 minutes and 46 seconds

Episode Number: 206

About Samantha Brown's Places to Love:

For more than 17 years, TV host Samantha Brown has been exploring all four corners of the world, visiting more than 260 cities in 62 countries, sharing her adventures and introducing new cultures to viewers.

Now, the two-time Emmy Award-winner embarks on her next journey with her new travel series SAMANTHA BROWN'S PLACES TO LOVE.

Unlike a traditional travelogue show with a formulaic itinerary, PLACES TO LOVE delivers decidedly refreshing and enriching travel experiences by taking viewers on a discovery of the emotional heart of travel and highlighting the people who are changing, challenging and strengthening a destination.

From Brooklyn, New York and Monterey, California to Shanghai, China and Donegal in Ireland, Samantha seeks out the little-known spots and haunts where innovators and disrupters are creating a brand new travel experience.

Whether it's through food and drink, art and design, culture or adventure, at the end of each episode, viewers will have a well-curated list of new experiences that focus on not just how to visit a destination, but how to fully immerse in it.

The 13-part series encourages viewers to experience the passion of people and the soul of a place in a way that only traveling can do.

Samantha's career as a television travel host happened by accident.

A producer spotted her work in a commercial and recommended her to the Travel Channel in 1999 to audition for a new show called Great Vacation Homes.

A decade of various series followed, including Great Hotels, Passport to Europe, Passport to Latin America, Samantha Brown's Asia, The Trip, 50/50, and many others.

Samantha's fun-loving style has made her a beloved and engaging television personality whose approach is less expert and more a person you would want to travel with.

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