Tel Aviv with friends

No longer solo, I met up with friends in Tel Aviv. We explored the concrete jungle as well as the old port of Jaffa. But as mentioned before, the streets of Tel Aviv remind me a lot of the oak-lined streets of Potchefstroom, so it is not just concrete. And then there is the beach. Who wants to stand on concrete, even if it is under pretty trees, if you could rather stand on a beach? Toes in the sand while waves roll back and forth. We explored both the concrete and the salt, but most of the time was spent in sight of the ocean

Museum visit

Tourist’ing’, does not only mean selfies at landmarks, it should also mean that you put on your smarty pants and learn some actual facts. Our ‘smart’ stop was at the ANU Museum of the Jewish People on the grounds of the University. It is a huge museum, and you should be able to spend the whole day there. We however joined a group on a set ‘route’ and so we only saw a fraction of the exhibits. The most impressive at the moment is the Codex Sassoon. It is the most complete Bible found, more complete than the Aleppo Codex. As with the Aleppo Codex in Jerusalem, it is too valuable to put on show, so it is just a replica. But to the untrained eye, and based on the way that it is stored, it could have been the real thing.

Exploring

Later we all walked through the Carmel Market, or the Shuk HaCarmel as the locals call it, as the lights of the city came on. The hustle and bustle of the market was on its last legs by that time. Everything was closing down and most of the good goods were packed away. And abandoned the market loses all its appeal.

Then we all took our Rav Kavs for a spin on the buses. Public transport in first-world countries never ceases to amaze me and that in itself is already an experience. We got off somewhere near the Museum of Art and perused their outside exhibit.

Getting back to a part of town that we recognised proved a bit harder than anticipated. We were walking with purpose, only to find ourselves back where we started at the outside of the museum. Walking and talking might not be the best way to navigate a strange city. But as they say, it is about the journey and not necessarily the destination.

Dancing in the streets

Bright and early we met up again for another day of exploring. First stop: Folk dancing on the promenade. Walking up to the festivities you can already see the bustle from far away, it looked like a frenzied nest of ants. Getting closer, we could see that the dancers meant business. They knew their steps and were not taking it lightly.

Dancers were represented by all shapes and sizes. Some looked like dancers by trade judging by the fancy shoes and the nicely held arms and hands, others were just there for the fun. All of them doing fancy footwork on the beat of local music.

We also tried to get a handle on the fun, but all our left feet were left behind by the fast pace of the dancers who knew the steps by heart. We tried. We laughed. We ended up looking at the ‘show’ instead of ‘folking’ along. It was a lot of fun either way.

Beach day

After we left the rhythm behind, we dared to get our feet wet….and then inevitably full of sand. Somehow beach sand just wants to stay put no matter the effort to get it off, and thus started my sandpapery toe day.

We played in the waves a little bit as if we were 10 again. And speaking of being like kids, what is a beach day without ice cream? With sandy feet, we went in search of the White City Bauhaus architecture but found a Golda ice cream instead. Everybody got their scoops of whatever and we then sat outside at a table on a tree-lined pavement and enjoyed ice cream as the people of the city buzzed by. Them, and their dressed-up dogs.

After the brain freeze wore off, we made our way back to the promenade and walked further north. The beachfront was full of people and their dogs doing leisurely things.

The day got pretty hot, but explore we did, hoping to work on some kind of tan. The walking with the sandy feet went all the way past the marina, the pool and a closed-off beach where on certain days men can enter and on other days women. Sandy shoes walked all the way to the Tel Aviv Port with its wooden bedecked walkway. And why stop there? The path does not.

Yarkon river and park

At the end of the port area, the path continues inland next to the Yarkon River. This path goes all the way to Yarkon Park which is supposed to be bigger than Central Park in New York. But, after a full day of walking with sandy feet in tekkies, with the Mediterranean sun baking from above, exploring Yarkon Park was a bit too ambitious for that particular day. The park will need to be discovered some other time, We did however get to see the beginning of the park and the nice ‘green blob’ it makes in the middle of all the steel and windows and concrete.

I did go look for a Geocache while in this area, and it was a very tough call with all the people around. It is placed at the 3m high ‘Wings of the City‘ that was donated by a Jewish community in Mexico. I did find it while dodging the many onlookers and picture takers and had a short but somewhat scary encounter with what I presume were locals. That encounter resulted in a B-line back to the Promenade

Backtracking

At least the way back was easy, no navigating required, just follow the beach promenade back. Almost halfway I would guess, is a monument set up where Haim Arlozoroff was assassinated in 1933. Just a bit of fun trivia. Fun might not be the correct phrasing seeing as someone was killed. Interesting might be a better word. There are interesting things like this all over. Everything is named after someone, so once you know the streets and squares and buildings, you should be halfway to knowing the history. One of the big bus and train stations is also named Arlozoroff.

All the way back were many things to see. People fishing. Dogs swimming. People playing frisbee and volleyball. Sunbathers. Sand castles. Children climbing on jungle gyms. Police on funny standing quadbike scooter things. Sooooo many people. I think because of the tiny living spaces with no gardens people are forced outside, that plus the nice weather (although a lot smoggy, you can look at the sun through it). And then at the turnoff to my hostel on the grassy beach were humungous kites flying. Those kites made me think of Megamind for some or other reason.

Diezengoff, sunset and baking

I still wanted to quickly go see Diezengoff, the square and the Mall, to tick off from my to-see list. The street on which it is, was named for the first mayor. On one of the maps, the square is marked with its fountain that looks like a flying saucer. But when I got there it seemed quite small compared to the ‘hype’, but the mall on the other hand was huge.

It is built on 2 sides of the road. I had maybe an hour to explore, so there was no way of going by the skyway across to the other side. It was easier to stay in one building, one of the many reasons was to not get lost and be able to find my way out. I quickly spiralled down the inside walkway and windowshopped. It was not as if I would be able to afford anything there anyway.

Sunset

At sunset, we gathered on the roof of the hotel in which my friends were staying hoping to see the sunset. The sun was behind clouds (and a lot of smog) for most of the afternoon, but we did get beautiful pictures of sunset over the Mediterranean Sea. The same sea and the same sun since the beginning of time.

Baking in a Synagogue

And as the sun set, we were presented with an opportunity to bake. We were asked if we wanted to participate in the baking of challah(gga-la) bread. The making of the bread took place at a synagogue. What a lesson making that bread was! If I had to name it, I would call it prayer bread because prayer requests were given, and prayers were said with the kneading of the dough.

After kneading, the dough had to rise. Waiting for the dough to rise was a joyous occasion with music and dancing (still in the Synagogue). Then back to the risen dough we went. A final communal prayer was lifted while the dough was ‘presented’ to God. Then the ‘blessed’ dough was braided into loaves. The loaves were left overnight and would be distributed where needed the next day, so we unfortunately did not see the end result. If someone had given me this bread before I knew what it was, I would have enjoyed it. But now knowing that the whole process is a process of prayer and praising, I would feel honoured to be given such a special labour of love bread. And what a great way to end a day.

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How to:

Here is the link to the downloadable map of Tel Aviv that I scribbled on to show where we were walking. Jaffa is way ‘down under’ with its orange and whale. The whole beachfront of Tel Aviv is a promenade, therefore it is easy to walk or bike from one side to the other.

The kites were flown in the grassy area, and I got the idea that that is the regular kite flying spot. The folk dancing is about halfway at Gordon Beach. They are not there every day. The heart, the ‘Tel Aviv‘ and the Wings are in the Port Area.

Neither the ANU museum or the Museum of art is on the below scribbled-on map. The ANU is on the north side of the Yarkon River and the Museum of Art, although on the South side of the river, is a bit more inland than the cropped map shows.

The Diezengoff fountain and Mall are East of the dancing beach, and reachable by foot is the Carmel market a way down. But check out the first TLV post, the map is more centralised there.

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Lastly, here are the links to Tel Aviv part 1 which I explored by myself, and also Jaffa and Caesarea. And below that is the link to my story about the Aleppo Codex at the Israel Museum, and just for fun the Geocache link.

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