Nashville: 12 South
A lot of what we had on our Must Do in Nashville list was located in 12 South, which is a neighborhood surrounding 12th Avenue South. There are a bunch of murals on this street as well as the famous Five Daughters Bakery (they have gluten free and vegan donuts there!). Liz was also excited to go to Draper James, which is Reese Witherspoon’s store. The Draper James building is painted with gorgeous blue and white stripes so many people like to take pictures there. Right across the alley way from Draper James is the I Believe in Nashville mural.
12 South was a shopping, food, and coffee street just like the Gulch, but 12 South had way more of a country feel. Everything was a bit more rustic and had that cozy, Southern charm.
Our favorite meal that we had during our whole trip was at Bartaco in 12 South. Being gluten free and mostly vegetarian, eating out is always a struggle to find things for me to eat. But at Bartaco, there were plenty of vegetarian tacos, such as cauliflower or portobello. Also, the entire menu was gluten free except for a few desserts that were starred. I loved having almost the whole menu as options for me - this never happens! The whole time we were eating, we were going on and on about how delicious the food was, and Nick even complimented the manager afterwards.
Another favorite store was White Mercantile. It had mostly home decor and books, but I wish we could have taken the whole store home! It was beautiful inside. There were pillows, candles, coffee mugs, poetry books, and more. Like I said, everything had that warm, cozy feel!
Frothy Monkey was also an amazing cafe. We were planning to eat there but it was pretty busy, so we got our coffees to go. Liz and I both got the salted caramel coconut latte. It was delicious! The Nashville Looks Good on You mural is also right behind the Frothy Monkey, but when we were there, there were no other tourists so we took our time taking pictures with the mural.
- Jess