I read somewhere that Tel Aviv rated #4 on a list of the best party cities in the world. Coming from somewhat solemn Jerusalem, it was a breath of fresh Mediterranean air to spend a few days here waiting out the volcanic ash plume from Iceland.
Tel Aviv is messy, chaotic, dumpy looking in places, and dangerous for pedestrians on the sidewalk; but it seems to work and it does have a hip young vibe that keeps the city going all day long on the beaches along the Mediterranean and all night long in the clubs.
This was my Tel Aviv song worm:
Mazel tov! l'chaim!
I gotta feeling
Tel Aviv is known as the White City for its many mid twentieth art deco style buildings mainly painted white.
After a day wandering around Tel Aviv on my own, I stopped in at an internet cafe to catch up on email. The small group that I had toured northern Israel and Jerusalem with had disbanded the day before in Jerusalem and all of us were expecting to leave for home except the ash plume left most of our plans in a question mark. I was hoping I would get an email update from any of them if they had ended up in Tel Aviv but nothing.
Suddenly a familiar voice interrupted my internet focus asking me if I had any hashish! It was Michael and Susan from our little group. They had just arrived from Jerusalem and were staying in nearby old Jaffa and were on their way to find Avi and Nicholas who were staying at a hotel about 100 metres down the street from where I was sitting. Amazing in a city with a metro population of 3 million that we should meet by chance like that.
And no, I didn't have any hash.
Allenby Street sidewalk
Old Jaffa which is next door to Tel Aviv and has more of an Arab middle eastern flavour.
We ate at this very good Arab restaurant in old Jaffa. A choice of grilled meat on a kabob served with 12 salads. Delicious! My guide book on my Kindle said their bakery across the street might be the best in Israel.
This is the place to stay in the Tel Aviv area if you are on a tight budget and want to meet other travellers. My friends S&M had a room on the roof garden that featured an airplane bi-fold bathroom door.
I call this shot "Hanging at the Limp Wiener".
Dawn from my hotel room. I stayed at the City Hotel which was just off Ben Yehuda Street and a block or so from the beach.
from the roof garden of the Old Jaffa Hostel
Jaffa clock tower
entrance hall, Old Jaffa Hostel
Happy 62nd Israeli Independence Day! Flags flying everywhere for a happy celebration the day after Israeli Memorial Day, mourning for their fallen. Israel has built an impressive infrastructure and has an economy driven by an entrepreneurial spirit.
solar hot water heating is popular
The white plastic chairs gather at city hall to get ready for the Independence Day party.
I stopped to photograph this store window and Michael stopped to wait for me and I noticed that he was perfectly positioned for his reflection to fill one of the boxes!
Bad bank. Their atm retained my debit card and because of the national holidays I had to wait until Wednesday to get the card back. An angel who owns a bistro across the street that we were eating at phoned the bank's emergency phone number for me as my Hebrew is non-existant and they said show up at 9 am Wednesday with my passport and they would have the card for me.
The rude bank dude repeatedly denied they had my card or if they had it they would be mailing it to me from another location in 2 days. After taking my passport for ID, he more or less implied that now they had my card and my passport and what could I do about that?
After 15 minutes of bullshit pretending to make phone calls and shuffle paper on his desk, he threw the card and the passport on the desk. What a crappy bank was my lame parting shot.
Bistro Tel Aviv on Ben Yehuda. The owner spent 25 years in New York as a chef. The menu was very cosmopolitan. Although I enjoyed the fresh tasty healthy Mediterranean-middle eastern food throughout Israel, I had the best soba noodles in miso broth with chicken and vegetables here. Slurp! She also has BLTs, as in BACON. Since I considered my time in Israel to be my bacon rehab we expressed surprise that she would have bacon on the menu. She said of course! There is no law against serving bacon in Israel! They never said they were Kosher! My hotel kept Kosher so that meant that coffee with dairy was possible with breakfast as it was a no meat meal, but for lunch or dinner there was meat at the buffet, so then the coffee machine was covered with a sheet and coffee was only served in the hotel lobby, not in the restaurant, although it was made there under the sheet.
The next time we went, after retrieving the bank card and to thank her for her help, I had beef which was very good but Alberta beef is better!
One last construction shot with tower crane.
Frankfurt and northern Europe were open for air traffic again, so I left Ben Gurion International Airport at 5 am on Thursday 5 days late flying Lufthansa to Frankfurt. A quick change of planes to Calgary, also on Lufthansa, and I was home at noon! (9 or 10 hours difference I forget).
Israel was a unique and wonderful experience and I would definitely go back to see more and encourage others to check it out.
Jerusalem part 1
Jerusalem part 2
Tel Aviv
Svat
Rosh Pina and Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi
Tuba
Prev
Linear Mode
