Nashville - Backgroud - Overview

Nashville International Airport is eight miles southeast of downtown. Metropolitan Transit Authority buses into town (weekdays 8.13am5.33pm; weekends 6.49am4.19pm; tel 615/862-5950) leave every half-hour and cost $1.45. The Gray Line shuttle (every 15min 6am11pm; $11 one-way $17 round-trip; tel 1-800/669-9463) drops off at most downtown hotels. Taxis are probably the quickest option but will set you back around $25. Greyhound buses arrive in a seedy part of downtown at 200 Eighth Ave S; there's no Amtrak service.

Nashville is so spread out that a car is a good option. However, the one-way system can be maddening, and the roads change name without warning. MTA runs buses until midnight to most parts of the county, from the transit mall on Deaderick Street and Fifth Avenue ($1.45 flat fare), and trolleys , leaving Broadway and 9th Street (TuesSat noon & 2pm, Sun 13pm), that cover the entire downtown area plus Music Row for a fare of $1 (an unlimited 1-day pass is $5; a similar 3-day pass is $8). To get out to the Opryland area MTA offer a city bus express #34 that leaves from 5th Street and Broadway about every hour MonFri 10am8.30pm, SatSun 10am6pm. Another system of trolleys runs between the Opry mills mall, the Opryland Hotel and the various attractions in Music Valley. Grand Ole Opry Tours (tel 615/889-9490), Gray Line (tel 615/883-5555) and Johnny Walker Tours (tel 615/834-8585), among others, offer a variety of both cultural and specialist country music bus tours . Expect to pay $25 for a three-hour trip, not including admission to attractions. Alternatively you can hop on the "Big Pink Bus" with the singing guides of NashTrash Tours (Sat & Sun 11am & 2pm; other days by arrangement; $20; tel 615/226-7300), who dig up the dirt on the country stars. Nashville Black Heritage Tours offers walking tours concentrating on the city's considerable African-American history (tel 615/890-8173; call to arrange at least 3 days in advance). The city also produces a handy CityWalk map of downtown, following two miles of painted blue lines around the major historic sights. These maps, as well as discount tickets to attractions, are available from the visitor center , next to the massive Nashville Arena at 501 Broadway (daily daylight hours; tel 615/259-4747 or 1-800/657-6910, www.nashvillecvb.com ).

Set amid the gentle hills and fertile farmlands of central Tennessee, NASHVILLE attracts six million people each year a mixture of devoted fans and the just plain curious to immerse themselves in country music . They come to enjoy themselves, and the city makes sure that they do, offering not just the relatively mainstream Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry , but all the wonders of "Tacksville." To make the most of this facet of Nashville, you need to abandon any idea of detachment, and get out there among the nightspots and gift emporia, joining the quest for souvenir T-shirts, Stetsons, rattlesnake belts and photos of your favorite star.

However, there is a real city beneath the rhinestone glitter. Nashville has been the leading settlement in middle Tennessee since Fort Nashborough was established in 1779. State capital since 1843, it is now the financial and insurance center of the mid-South, as well as a fast-growing manufacturing base. Giant Nissan and Saturn motor plants have been attracted to its immediate hinterland, and rapid growth since World War II has transformed a once-compact city into a sprawling conurbation stretching out in all directions along the undulating roads, here known as pikes .

For all its blue-collar "Nash-Vegas" image, Nashville has maintained a strong reputation for learning since planter times, and is home to sixteen higher education establishments, including Vanderbilt University and the renowned colleges of Fisk University and Meharry Medical School. The city likes to see itself as the "Athens of the South" and, endearingly, has built a replica of the Parthenon to bolster its claim. Even at night, Nashville offers more than country music, with enough going on to satisfy most tastes. It has also boosted its image by attracting an NFL team (the Tennessee Oilers) and NHL side (the Nashville Predators) here.

The other conspicuous element in Nashville's make-up is religion . There are over seven hundred churches, more per capita than anywhere else in the country. But what really earns it the tag of "Protestant Vatican" is the proliferation of colleges for training preachers and missionaries, church administrative offices and Bible-publishing plants.