HOUSTON’S CULTURAL REVOLUTION
Best known as home to NASA, the Texan city is also home to museums and fusion food
Growing up in the American south-west, I recall Houston being called the Bayou City. The Buffalo Bayou runs through the city and ultimately empties into the Burnet Bay, near the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, so you can see why the moniker makes sense. Fast forward to 2024, and you’ll find a bustling coastal city that offers a smorgasburg of art, culture, history and some of the best ethnic food in the USA. If you’re visiting Houston for the day on a cruise you’ll head here from the port of Galveston – about an hour away. Head first to the museum district, home to 19 museums, including the Museum of Fine Art, Contemporary Art, Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Moody Arts Center, and the Rothko Chapel. All offer fantastically curated collections but my favourite space is the quirky National Museum of Funeral History – arguably Houston’s most direct line to the afterlife. Here you’ll discover the country’s largest collection of funeral-service artefacts; from hearses through the ages to an extensive amount of presidents’ funeral memorabilia. Equally compelling is the NASA Space Center. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, Mission Control Center has been returned to how it would have looked during the 1969 moon landings. Cuisine is also a major draw in this ethnically diverse city. Houston’s eightmile-long Chinatown is chock full of restaurants. My top choice is One Dragon, possibly the best Shanghainese food in the U.S, run by a meticulous owner some call the Soup Nazi. Never tried a corndog? You’ll find a delicious Korean twist on the American favourite at ChunChung. Fusion food looms large too in the downtown area of the city where Cambodian bakery Koffeteria serves delicious Asian-influenced pastries while Peruvian-Japanese restaurant Pacha Nikkei features pisco sour cocktails garnished with purple maize. And if you’re craving authentic southern food, head to Truth BBQ for a truly Texan experience that even includes tasty vegan ribs.
The six-night Western Caribbean round-trip cruise from Galveston, Texas, onboard Harmony of the Seas, including stops in Cozumel and Roatán, departs 14 July 2024, from £734 per person, not including flights. royalcaribbean.com