Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is a big city with a lot of life. The beautiful Mediterranean Sea sets the mood. The beach has many big hotels but it’s still open compared to Miami, Virginia Beach or any resort beach in the United States. There’s an effort to restore older buildings so you sense a positive energy of a community that is strong and progressive. The regentrification of old neighborhoods creates trendy new places to dine, shop and live. Dizengoff Street is famous for cafes and clubs but I found them all around downtown.

We checked into a beachfront hotel near the marina then dashed out to meet friends of friends. In typical Israeli style, they go out late, stay out way late and are extremely hospitable. So many times this trip we’ve laughed that we’ll sleep when we get old because there’s too much to do now. I feel like a child who needs to sleep but doesn’t want to go to bed in fear that he’ll miss something.

After dinner and drinks, we visited Jaffa, one of my favorite spots. Below is a picture of Tel Aviv taken from the old buildings in Jaffa.

In the morning we enjoyed delicious Arabic coffee and breakfast sitting by the beach followed by several hours of swimming and sunbathing. After checking out of the hotel we headed for the shuk that is only a block or two away from the beach. The open market is a sensory overload of colors, aromas and sounds.

Below is a picture of an army group walking through the market. Everywhere we see them, they’re greeted by smiles. I love the idea of service to the country for a couple years after high school. I suspect these young people do a lot of growing up and are better prepared for life after their service.

I’d love to spend another few days in Tel Aviv but we need to move on to Jerusalem. We took to the busy highway and began the short trip out of the city. The 67 kilometers took us closer to two hours rather than the estimated one hour which is common for our driving but we frequently take the wrong turn and get confused by the signs that are not as helpful as they could be.

The population of Israel was 3.575 million in 1976 when I first came here and now it’s 8.522 million; almost tripled. No wonder there are so many more buildings and roads. Approaching the beautiful hills surrounding Jerusalem, I see that the city has grown a lot.