FOOD AND DRINK
families can enjoy the cracking music and atmosphere together.
Situated just off Broadway, we walked the line and visited the Johnny Cash Museum to marvel at the world’s largest collection of memorabilia from the Man in Black’s life.
There is a whole room dedicated to all of Cash’s record releases, and glass cabinet displays with his stage costumes from years gone by.
We also enjoyed that magnificent deep bottomless well of a voice played over the sound system as we drifted through this magical shrine (johnny cashmuseum.com, $19.99).
Another downtown must is the Country Music Hall of Fame with its section on Sam Phillips, the man who “discovered” Elvis and
On the Man in Black at the Johnny Cash Museum “invented” rock and roll, and the display of The King’s gold piano and Cadillac (country musichalloffame.org, $25.95).
Later in the evening, we enjoyed a mouth-watering steak with proper American fries at The Southern restaurant in the SoBro district in the heart of downtown. Diners flock to this flourishing diner for the authentic wood-fired cooked meats and seafood, especially their oysters and the impressively stocked bar of southern liquors.
Another quirky dining option is Pinewood Social, a former tram shed with a bowling alley built inside – a venue that wouldn’t look out of
There’s a code of conduct... you must leave the local celebs in peace.
If you see Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban, Reese Witherspoon, Jack White, or the country and western stars we are not familiar with but are big names in the US, they do not get approached for selfies or autographs in a restaurant or bar. It’s the Nashville way. place in London’s trendy Shoreditch.
With our alley booked and food and drinks ordered, Gabriel and I proceeded on a hefty workout rolling the bowls down towards the tenpins.
Having heard so much about the famous Nashville Music Row, where Elvis and Dolly Parton cut their hits, and more recently, country artists such as Keith Urban, Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift, we took both the SongBird and RCA Studios tours (studiob.org, $40.95, songbirdtours.com, $45 ).
Studios and songwriters’ publishing houses in historic buildings line the length of the two streets that make up the row, the most famous of which is RCA Studio B, at its peak from 1957-1977 (its partner building Studio A was saved from demolition to make way for a new hotel).
Just being inside the room where Elvis, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson recorded their hits is a spine-tingling experience to treasure for ever.
It’s even said that you can still see the dent in the outer back wall where Dolly Parton once pranged ■ British Airways flies daily from Heathrow to Nashville starting at £318 return. ba.com
■ Room at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville start at $239 a night; packages including admission to SoundWaves start at $299 per couple per night. SoundWavesGO.com
■ Rooms at AC Hotel by Marriott Nashville Downtown start at $216USD (£168) a night. achotels. marriott.com/
■ Tourist info: visitmusiccity.com
her car! Further along the road you’ll also find Nashville celebrity resident Reese Witherspoon’s lifestyle shop, Draper James.
For many, the song remains the same in this finely tuned Music City. However, with new artists emerging on the country music scene and high visitor numbers leading to a boom in hotel building, Nashville’s future is as bright as a rhinestone cowboy riding into the high noon sun.
Baku has a long, rich history and the chief sights are:
1
Maiden Tower – the symbol of Baku and visitors can climb its eight floors and enjoy a view of the Old City and Baku Bay. It is thought the 100ft structure was started in the 7th or 8th century and enlarged in the 11th or 12th. 2
Old City – a walled area of mosques, minarets, Arabic architecture, carpets, small shadowed gardens and shop tenants chatting over tea or playing dominoes – and a Unesco world heritage site.
3
Palace of the Shirvanshahs – the complex was constructed in the 15th century to serve as the court for the ruling dynasty of that time. There are pavilions, courtyards, palace rooms, a crypt, Turkish bathhouse and a mosque.
4
Museum of Modern Art – opened in 2009, there are 800 exhibits of Azerbaijani works plus Dali and Picasso.
5
Flame Towers – three spectacular skyscrapers that are impressively illuminated at night.
6
Yanardag – a natural gas fire that blazes continuously on a hillside outside the city.
Be sure to try plov, one of the national dishes of Azerbaijan. It’s a type of rice pilaf and comes in many varieties with lamb, mutton, chicken, dried fruit or beans and one speciality comes baked in a tortilla cake.
Many other dishes such as kebabs, mutton and chickpea piti soup, dolma stuffed leaves and chai tea will be familiar to anyone who’s been to Turkey. The Azeris reckon they have the best tomatoes in the world.
For thirsty fans there’s good news: despite 97% of the population being Muslim, it is not dry. Wine, beer and vodka are widely sold and about half the typical cost charged in the UK.