48 HOURS OF COUNTRY BOPPIN’ IN NASHVILLE

We decided to do a gigantic detour and visit Nashville from New York. We took the night bus from Chinatown, which took us a whopping 16 hours, but we were lucky enough to be able to sleep a large part. We rented a car in Nashville, which comes in handy when you want to visit other parts of Nashville than just Broadway. Public transport is not a big deal here, though Uber is easy and affordable. Our time in Nashville was focused on visiting the Honky-Tonks on Broadway and visiting the amazing, colorful murals in other parts of town.

• 

• 

Honky-Tonks

The Honky-Tonks are typical of Nashville and they are country bars with live music. Nashville is called music city for a reason and there is an enormous amount of Honky-Tonks. Most of them are located on Broadway, so it is really easy to do some bar hopping. There is no entrance fee, but it is expected that you tip the band and buy some drinks at the bar. We are not country music fans particularly ourselves, but we found the Honky-Tonks a really good introduction into country music and if we didn’t like the band we just switched bars. Most of the Honky-Tonks have a funny name, just in case if Honky-Tonk does not sound funny enough 😉 We ended up in the “Mellow Mushroom” for several hours, but other names of bars are “Betty Boot”, “Second Fiddle” and “Redneck Riviera”. If you want to learn about country music in a more serious way you can also visit the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Johnny Cash Museum, but we liked it just fine with a beer in our hands 🙂

• 

• 

• 

Broadway is a fun sight by itself. Besides the Honky-Tonks there are many fun stores, most of them selling country related items, such as boots and hats. And I really loved all the Neon lights of Broadway! There are many bars with a rooftop, so it is also really easy to enjoy the city lights from up in the air.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Streetart & murals

Nashville also has an up and coming street art scene. There are several neighborhoods in Nashville that feature many colorful murals, some of them are music-related, but some are not. We went to East Nashville, near Gallatin road and to 12 South where we found lots of murals. Another popular area to visit murals is The Gulch, which is closer to the town center. Most of the murals are located in neighborhoods that used to be a bit sketchy. Nashville is much safer to visit now and the murals are a nice addition to all the hipster bars and stores that are being opened in these areas. If you are looking for cool places to eat, these outskirts are also where you should be. The contrast with the Fried Chicken restaurants Downtown couldn’t be bigger. The combination of the country center and the hipster suburbs are exactly what makes Nashville a fun city to visit!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

In 12 South I also loved visiting Draper James, the store of Reese Witherspoon which is oriented on Southern Living. It has super cute clothes, of which I can bring none home, and lots of good presents. We spontaneously had lunch in the restaurant next door (Edley’s Bar-B-Que) and were super surprised that the BBQ food was absolutely delicious and found it a nice introduction into Southern cooking. And of course we received free refills 😉

• 

• 

If you want to visit the murals, I would recommend parking in a residential area and do a short walk to the murals, as parking in the popular areas must be paid. I really liked driving around to find the murals as it gives you a good overview of Nashville, you really get to know the several areas and you see a more “rural” life when getting out of downtown.