GRAND COTEAU , off I-49 ten miles north of Lafayette, is a picture-perfect little town, with whitewashed buildings - including a dazzling white chapel - and prettily winding roads. Since 1866, when a dying woman was miraculously healed by the intercession of a saint in the Academy of the Sacred Heart , 1821 Academy Rd, devout Cajun Catholics have made pilgrimages here. You can see the old classrooms of this beautifully columned school, and follow a long path through the ornate gardens, canopied by huge old oaks (Mon-Fri by appointment; $5; tel 337/662-527, ).
The 1831 Chretien Point Plantation , in SUNSET , ten miles north of Lafayette on Hwy-93 just off I-10, is one of Louisiana's oldest Greek Revival buildings (daily 10am-4pm; $6.50). Its main staircase was the model for Tara's in Gone with the Wind . Mrs Chretien, left to run the plantation after her husband's death in 1832, was very much in the Scarlett O'Hara mode. She scandalized the community by drinking, smoking, gambling and sitting with the men after dinner, and once shot an intruder, whose ghost is said to roam the corridors. Bullet holes in the front door date from 1863, when Mrs Chretien's son showed a Masonic sign to an attacking Union general, who thereupon directed fire over the roof. The plantation has five luxurious B&B rooms (tel 337/662-5876; $130-160).
Sweet little OPELOUSAS , twenty miles north of Lafayette on I-49, has four claims to fame. It was the boyhood home of Jim Bowie, Texas Revolutionary hero and inventor of the Bowie knife, the first place in the world to produce an offset newspaper (in 1915), the birthplace of the great zydeco musician Clifton Chenier , and today, even more excitingly, it's the yam capital of the universe. You can find out more about it at the quirky Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center , 315 N Main St (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; free), which displays such relics of local history as the barber's stool on which outlaw Clyde Barrow got his last shave before being shot dead by the FBI in northern Louisiana. Stop by the 1920s Palace Café , on the central square at 167 W Landry Ave (Mon-Sat 6am-9pm, Sun 7am-3pm; tel 337/942-2142), for shrimp, crawfish and gumbo in immacu-late diner surroundings, and if you're tempted to stay the night, head for one of the small cluster of chain hotels outside town on I-49; both the Best Western (tel 337/942-5540, ; $50-75) - just south of town - and the Holiday Inn (tel 337/948-3300, ; $75-100) - just north - are relatively new.
To learn a little about the Cajun Prairie, head for friendly EUNICE , about 20 miles west of Opelousas. The exemplary Prairie Acadian Cultural Center at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park , 250 W Park Ave (daily 8am-5pm; free), holds far-reaching displays on local life, ranging across family, language, food and farming, with live Cajun music at weekends. If time is limited, choose this place over the Eunice Museum , 220 S C.C. Duson Drive (Tues-Sat 8am-noon & 1-5pm; free) - though this too has its charms; it's an old train depot crammed with an eccentric ragbag of toys, musical instruments, farming implements and Native American artifacts. However long you're here, don't miss out on Eunice's splendid down-home food - Johnson's Grocery , 700 E Maple Ave (tel 337/457-9314), serves fat, juicy boudin and spicy hogshead cheese from 6am, while Allison's Hickory Pit , 501 W Laurel St (Fri-Sun; tel 337/457-9218), specializes in pork, chicken, steak and brisket smothered in a mean barbecue sauce. Although there's little else to see in Eunice, it's at the hub of the region's music scene ; the regular Savoy Accordion Factory and Liberty Center bashes are supplemented by the riotous annual Courir du Mardi Gras , when masked horsemen gallop through the countryside before parading through downtown, where the drinking and dancing continues all day. Potier's Prairie Cajun Inn , at 110 W Park Ave (tel 337/457-0440; $75-100), next door to the Liberty Center for the Performing Arts, is a 1920s hospital restored as a friendly place to stay .
From here it's twenty miles north to VILLE PLATTE , and Floyd's Music Store, 434 E Main St (Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.30pm, Sat 8.30am-5pm; ), owned by dashing Floyd Soileau, the world's chief distributor of South Louisiana music , and stocking everything from zydeco reissues to contemporary swamp pop. If Mr Soileau isn't around, you could well find him listening to the rocking jukebox a couple of doors down at the Pig Stand , 318 E Main St (daily till late; tel 337/363-2883), where giant plates of fried chicken, smothered sausage and ribs come heaped with rice, gravy, black-eyed peas and potato salad. The place is famed for its pork barbecue (served Tues, Thurs, Sat & Sun only).
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