Nashville In A Flash

What to do in Nashville if you only have one afternoon?  Don’t do what I did!

Had an extra day in my travels, so I figured I’d take a relaxing trolley tour of Nashville. Turned out to be a mad scramble all day.

Made reservations to catch a $12 shuttle from my campground to the downtown trolley stop. Boarded the shuttle in the morning with another couple from Switzerland, expecting to be dropped off at Broadway. Didn’t happen. We were a few blocks shy.

It was a bit of a hike to Broadway where a pre-paid ticket ($48) for the all-day Trolley Tour waited. Or so I thought.

Just my luck, the Veteran’s Day parade started marching. All of Broadway was closed. No traffic, no trolleys, allowed downtown during the parade.

One tour bus was part of the parade. Hey! Let me on!

A little late, I got a text from the tour company. They said I could catch a bus about 20 blocks away, or wait 4 hours for the downtown route to open. Oh, dear. Not prepared to walk that far or wait that long.

Spotted an electric bike for rent ($12/hour) and was happy I didn’t wear that skirt after all!

With a cartoon tourist map (not to scale) I picked my way through Nashville’s neighborhoods on the bicycle hoping to catch up with the trolley tour somewhere north of downtown.

I passed by Tennessee’s state capital on a tall hill overlooking Nashville. Oof, that was a big climb on a bicycle!

Peddled through more neighborhoods and under the overpass to the Marathon Motorcar Factory complex.

There are only nine known Marathon cars left, and this museum has six of them. The buildings are well preserved and artifacts from the old factory are scattered about.

The factory now houses shops and offices, including a retail store owned by the American Pickers guys.

Found a drop-off station for the e-bike a few blocks away, then hoofed it to a trolley stop. Waited a long while for the driver’s shift to start.

Jumped off at the Parthenon to see the gilded 40-foot Athena statue inside. It was closed on Mondays.

By now the afternoon had ticked away. The next trolley took an exasperatingly slow drive through Music Row, pointing out each of about 100 recording studios. I kinda stopped listening halfway through. Eventually it deposited me back downtown, with the sunlight waning.

Slid into the Hard Rock Cafe for a quick refreshment. No, those aren’t my drinks! I only had time for one.

A brisk trot down the street to catch the return shuttle back to camp, along with the Swiss couple who sprinted to climb aboard.

That was Nashville in a flash. Next time I’ll rent a slow car and relax.