In my mind I imagined we would be visiting a small town that was the country music capital of the world. I was very wrong. 

Ruthie and I decided we would incorporate a small detour to break up the journey to Los Angeles before boarding our cruise home. It was to music city, Nashville.

It was a long day of flying. We left Porto, Portugal and needed 3 flights to reach Nashville. A multi lane freeway took us past glass faced high rise buildings. Not the small country town I was expecting. 

We only have 2 nights here but the  time change has given us the opportunity to do some exploring on arrival day. We walked to the downtown area and saw all the music venues and honky tonk bars but at this time of the day nothing was open and it was fairly quiet. The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Ryman were all impressive buildings but not much was happening.

The next day we had a lot to fit in. Ruthie had booked in a bus tour of Nashville. I was expecting “and on the left we have……..” but no! Apparently this was voted the number 1 tour to do in Nashville and it left us with sore jaws from laughing. Our host just unloaded, nothing and noone was sacred. She was very clever and together with her cousin they mananged a few songs inbetween all the hilarity. The tour included a bar stop for some shots and riding a mechanical bull if you were game. 

In the evening we had a date with the Grand Ole Opry. It surprised me how far out of town this location was. The Grand Ole Opry, Opryland and the Opry Mall are all owned by the same owner. The area is huge!

After a quick visit to the mall we went to Opryland. This hotel is huge and still growing. It has several atriums with canals and waterfalls with so many plants. I didn’t think I was keen to see a hotel but this was something different. An enjoyable beer and snack was had, listening to a solo guitarist. 

Next we’re off to the Grand Ole Opry for the night’s entertainment. Over my life I have heard so much about this venue. It was just the luck of the draw who we would see when we booked our tickets. I had heard of some of the acts on tonights card before but my standout was 90 year old Dicky Lee. A sublime performance of “She Still Cares” got a standing ovation. Certainly a tick off the bucket list.

There was a call to any Aussies in the audience, so we cheered loudly. There were 3 of us and one was invited on stage. By the way it wasn’t me, it was James Johnston who recently won the CMA international award and will receive the great honour of stepping into that famous circle on the Opry stage. Oh well, back to jamming for me!!

Our uber dropped us downtown on Broadway. What a change from the daytime to the nightime! Music pumping out of so many lit up venues, crowds walking the blocked off streets. It had been a long day and we were overwhelmed. 

Tomorrow has been declared “Dolly Day” to remember Dolly Parton who recently passed away. She was one of Nashvilles favourites. We were lucky enough to be here for 9/25 named in honour of her movie 9 to 5. 

We then headed to San Pedro in Los Angeles for a night before we cruise home to Australia via Hawaii and Tahiti. The AFL Grand Final was on that evening and we were fortunate enough to find a bar showing the game in San Pedro. The bar turned every screen to the AFL for us and we had a fun night trying to teach the American’s the rules to our game with some fellow Aussies. My blogging and I are now officially on holidays so I’m signing off. Aloha and Mahalo!

Statistics

TRANSPORT

4 Car’s

5 Taxi’s

9 Uber/Lyfts

17 Vans 

13 Trains

2 High Speed Trains

3 Trams

2 Monorail’s

1 Funicular 

3 mini buses

24 Buses

2 Tour buses

1 Plane fly flat business class 

10 Plane economy seats

41 Hotel rooms

10 Tender boats

2 speed boats

3 Cruise Ship Cabins

7 Ferries 

1 Hot Air Balloon

1 Transporter bridge with Gondola 

1 traditional Portuguese Rabelo cargo boat

COUNTRIES

3 continents 

10 countries including Greece, Malaysia, Spain, USA, French Polynesia, Italy, Montenegro.

Türkiye (our 65th country together)

Morocco (our 66th country together)

Portugal (our 67th country together)

Spanish Regions  – Navarre, Basque, Catalonia, Cantabria, Asturias, Iberian Peninsula, Galicia Andalusia, Castilla La Mancha

SCENIC HIGHLIGHTS

Fairy chimneys of Cappadocia.

Ancient cities of Hierapolis, Ephesus, Olympia and Delphi. 

Fortifications and old towns.

Calcium rich pools of Pamukkale.

Underground city of Göreme.

Volcanic Caldera of Santorini.

Whitewashed buildings of Mykonos.

Cliff top Monasteries of Meteora.

Pebble beaches of the Aegean.

The Azure blue of the Mediterranean against sandy beaches. 

Rugged brush covered Limestone cliffs of the Gallipoli peninsula.

Fertile agricultural valleys in Greece fed by underground water.

Olive groves as far as the eye can see.

Urban Metropolis’.

Sandy beaches of Northern Spain.

Medieval towns.

Temperate Rain forests.

Small Spanish villages where everyone is on Siesta or dancing in the streets celebrating a Fiesta. 

The peaceful Galician forest. 

Cork trees in Portugal.

Steep hills of old towns. 

The crazy busyness of Music City. 

Relaxing Ocean days cruising the Pacific. 

AVERAGE STEPS

14,000 per day