From amazing food to swanky hotels and electrifying sport - discovering that you don't HAVE to be into country music to enjoy a visit to Nashville (but it helps!)

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'Have you ever visited Nashville before?' a man shouts out above deafening 激しく揺する music.

We’re on the 最高の，を越す 床に打ち倒す of The 行う／開催する／段階, one of the honky-tonk 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s on Lower Broadway. Live music bellows out behind us, and he struggles to hear my 返答 over the 禁止（する）d's frontman, whose banter is almost as loud as his ego. He spends more time 直す／買収する，八百長をするing his hair than singing.

I tell him it’s my first time in the city and, in fact, my first time in the U.S. 'What took you so long?' he asks. It’s a question I'm still struggling to answer, as I 反映する on a long 週末 in Nashville - a place I was more than 気が進まない to leave.

My preconceptions of the city 延長するd no その上の than images of flashing lights, studded cowboy boots and fringe leather jackets, with these 見通しs 悪化させるd by listening to an entire Dolly Parton album on the flight over.

I knew it was 愛称d 'Music City', 予定 to its long and 影響力のある history in the music 産業, but I assumed this began and ended with country tunes. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

MailOnline Travel's 足緒 Hamilton 反映するs on a whirlwind 週末 in 'Music City'. The 判決? There's more to it than honky-tonk 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and country music. Pictured above is Broadway in Downtown Nashville

足緒 述べるs Nashville's mismatched architecture as both 'obnoxious and alluring'

'I knew it was 愛称d "Music City", but I assumed it began and ended with country tunes,' 足緒 令状s?

Although a medium-sized city, Nashville’s spirit is extra-large. This is evident in its startling skyline, with 非常に高い glass 超高層ビルs standing next to 巨大（な） red brick 倉庫／問屋s along the Cumberland River.

The mismatch of architecture is 同時に obnoxious and alluring, a 主題 which is echoed throughout my visit and perhaps most 明らかな on Broadway, an area covered in neon 調印するs, cowboy boot 販売人s and hot chicken eateries.

まっただ中に this lively scene, it's evident why Nashville has attracted some of the world’s 広大な／多数の／重要な artists, from Elvis Presley and Elton John to Aretha Franklin and Adele, who have all 記録，記録的な／記録するd here. The distinguished guitar brand, Gibson, 始める，決める up its （警察，軍隊などの）本部 here. It’s where Jimi Hendrix 'really' learnt to play guitar, and music legends, 含むing Keith 都市の, have chosen to call home.

'Everyone is a musician in Nashville,' I learn on a 小旅行する of the Musicians Halls of Fame Museum, and its live music scene certainly 断言するs it. にもかかわらず boozy buses that trawl the city centre and hoards of 女／おっせかい屋 parties, there’s 圧倒的な talent downtown.

'Everyone is a musician in Nashville,' 足緒 learns on a 小旅行する of the Musicians Hall of Fame Museum (above)

The 56,000-square-foot?国家の Museum of African American Music (above) does a lot to celebrate Nashville's diverse music scene, 令状s 足緒

A visit to Nashville isn't 完全にする without seeing a show at the Grand Ole Opry?

Country music mecca: The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Swiftication: The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is home to myriad Taylor Swift items. 足緒 is pictured above with a replica of the mega-星／主役にする's 小旅行する bus

Noteworthy: Guitars on 陳列する，発揮する at the Country Music Hall of Fame

The historic Hatch Show Print shop inside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum?

The 国家の Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) is another space that celebrates Nashville’s rich musical scene. The 56,000-square-foot museum, 20 years and $60million (£48million) in the making, showcases the many music genres created, 影響（力）d and 奮起させるd by African Americans. I could have easily spent all day wandering its interactive 展示（する）s, 調査するing centuries of music history.

Of course, Nashville can't 否定する its country roots and lots of spaces embrace it, 含むing one of the hotels I stay at, the swanky Bobby Hotel on historic Printers Alley, which carries a country 主題 throughout. The city’s most famous singer, Dolly Parton, ぼんやり現れるs large in the ロビー, where a 神社-like poster in her honour sits above two stylish (yet uncomfortable) egg 議長，司会を務めるs.

In my room at the nine-story 所有物／資産／財産, the wardrobe is adorned with 製図／抽選s of items such as cowboy boots and acoustic guitars - signposting to guests where they should place their souvenirs.

The homage to the genre continues at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which is home to a 塀で囲む of platinum country 記録，記録的な／記録するs, Elvis’s gold-plated Cadillac and さまざまな artefacts from Nashville’s sweetheart, Taylor Swift, 含むing her 初めの 'sparkle' guitar, encrusted with Swarovski 水晶s and rhinestones.?

Above is a 塀で囲む of gold and platinum 記録，記録的な／記録するs in the?Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

足緒 went to a Nashville Predators ice ホッケー game, which she 述べるs as 'electrifying'

足緒 stayed at the Bobby Hotel, at the heart of Nashville’s Downtown Arts 地区

The nine-story Bobby Hotel has a country 主題 running throughout

One of the public spaces at Bobby Hotel, which features a 抱擁する chandelier

The outdoor pool at Bobby Hotel, which is 位置を示すd?on historic Printers Alley

In 足緒's Bobby Hotel room?the wardrobe is adorned with 製図／抽選s of items such as cowboy boots and acoustic guitars - signposting to guests where they should place their souvenirs?

足緒 is pictured beneath an angelic image of Dolly Parton in an 'uncomfortable egg 議長，司会を務める' in Bobby Hotel

There's no 疑問 a visit to Nashville wouldn't be 完全にする without seeing a show at the Grand Ole Opry, the world’s longest-running live 無線で通信する show, which has been on 空気／公表する for nearly a century, or 小旅行するing the Ryman Auditorium, where the live broadcast began. But if you’re comi ng 単独で for the country music, you’re 行方不明の out.

It’s not just the music scene that’s big in Nashville, sport is 抱擁する - my group goes to a Nashville Predators ice ホッケー game and the atmosphere was electric - and the food servings are 大規模な, too. While trying everything from 'Daddy's Dogs', an oversized hot dog, to the city’s famous hot chicken, I discovered that food is 限定された source of pride in the southern city.

In ツバメ's 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業-B-Que 共同の, a rustic eatery in the heart of downtown, a 厚い cloud of smoke 大波d out from the kitchen across the restaurant, making my 注目する，もくろむs - and mouth - water.?After 破壊するing a plate of chicken wings covered in Alabama white sauce, I indulged in the BBQ beef brisket with a 味方する of mac-n-cheese. I left 敗北・負かすd and longing for an extra stomach.

At Sinema, a 素晴らしい brunch 位置／汚点／見つけ出す housed in a former theatre, bowls of grits, gravy-covered 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s and cinnamon-roll pancakes are placed in 前線 of you before you’ve even looked at the menu.

Pictured above is Sinema, a '素晴らしい brunch 位置／汚点／見つけ出す' 位置を示すd in a former theatre

At the Nashvillian restaurant chain '薄焼きパン／素焼陶器 Love', 足緒 tucked into some hot chicken?

Then there's the progressiveness - Nashville is more diverse than you might think.

In East Nashville most people have nose piercings and shaggy mullets and the vibrant and youthful area is bursting with fusion restaurants, 上昇傾向 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and artistic cafes.

類似して, 12 South, a leafy neighbourhood outside the bustling centre, 申し込む／申し出s a host of unique 地元の shops, vintage 着せる／賦与するing 蓄える／店s, and boutique pop-up shops.?

At Diskin Cider, in Wedgewood-Houston, or 'WeHo', anyone is welcome. Nashville’s first （手先の）技術 cidery is a generous 寄贈者 to the LGBT 議会 of 商業 and has 以前 hosted burlesque shows and drag brunches, with 業績／成果s from 'The Diskin Divas', a group of 地元の drag queens.

位置を示すd in an old 半分-トラックで運ぶ garage, there’s plenty of room to relax and enjoy their '危険に good cider'. My personal favourites were the '市長 Berry', a mix of blueberry and lavender, and the 'Lil' Blondie', a classic apple flavour.

As I 企て，努力，提案 別れの（言葉，会） to the man at The 行う／開催する／段階 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業, I knew that while this was my first time in Nashville, it wouldn’t be my last.?

Drawn in by loud music and 有望な lights, I 設立する myself not only wanting to stay for that, but everything else too.