Our bon vivants start the trip from New York, end it in Chicago. This bluesy road has surely witnessed many ventures before. But it’s equally sure that it has never smelt of anise.

The bon vivants’ first stop is New York. It is certain that they will spend their time shopping in here. So is that they will be staying at Chelsea Hotel and humming Leonard Cohen’s “Chelsea Hotel”…

The second stop is New Orleans, the city of jazz rebuilt after the hurricane. After New York’s rock, here they will get into the magical world of jazz, before starting their route of blues. We hope that they will plan their root and rent an old convertible American car in here. And they will be singing “While There is a Moon Over Bourbon Street.”

Highway 61, known also as the Blues Highway, starts from New Orleans, Louisiana, and ends after 1,400 miles (2,300 km.) in Wyoming, Minnesota. The route reaches Chicago over Tennessee, following Mississippi shoreline. Route 61 bears the stories of almost all blues musicians who run off the poverty and misery of the South for Chicago, “the land of gold.” The Grapes of Wrath follows this path. Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King and many more were born in Mississippi, hit the road, caught on some piano in Memphis, then plugged in their guitars for fame in Chicago.

After hitting Route 61, our bon vivants will pass through the Delta, home of early blues. They will drink rakı on the steamboats of Mississippi. And of course, they will not forget to visit the resting places of John Hurt, Charlie Patton, and Sun House.

While passing through the place where W.C. Handy accidentally met the blues, and tried his hand on the first blues recordings… It is impossible to not to visit Underground Railroad Museum, Center for Southern Folklore, and Children’s Museum Of Memphis. And a small note: This is where Howlin’ Wolf’s harmonica, Memphis Slims’s piano and B.B. King’s guitar Lucille became legends.

The home of “St. Louis Blues”, the first popular blues song and theme for many movies, is another stop. In this last legendary point for the blues musicians before going on stage in Chicago, they will wander through the streets where W.C. Handy met the blues.

The last stop, Chicago, is the “territory” of the Blues Brothers. The city of “Sweet Home Chicago” which Robert Johnson made famous back in Mississippi, in 1930s. Home state of Hemingway, Walt Disney, Miles Davis and many more. Our bon vivants will rest having lakeside picnics and dinners with rakı.

In short,

They will be witnessing history, having a good time, and drinking Yeni Rakı, on a delightful and exciting route.

Bon voyage, then…