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Israel Israel, November 2018

Sounds like a nice day!
I know you are not museum people, but one of the attractions of Tel Aviv are some of the museums of the modern history of Israel. Up at the northern end is the Palmach Museum, and the Rabin Center. I think these are under the auspices of the various organizations, but I did enjoy the Palmach Museum (maybe partly because I was with my cousin whose father was in the Palmach). There's also the Hagganah Museum, Independence Hall (both down at the south end of Rothschild Boulevard). There's also a very small museum in Neve Tzedek that was the home of Dvora Baron, one of the first people, women to write in modern Hebrew. The Museum of the Diaspora is up in Ramat Gan, at Tel Aviv University, but I've never found it particularly interesting compared with others of that type. People recommend the Eretz Israel Museum, but when I was in Tel Aviv it was just too too hot for me to visit. (Shoshi on TA is a wonderful resource for Tel Aviv.)

Funny, or maybe not, but Israelis rarely move between Jerusalem and Israel. My Ra'anana cousins have three married children and all have always lived in Ramat haSharon, Ramat Aviv, wherever (I don't know one suburb from the other). And the kids of my Jerusalem cousins (who can't afford to live in Jerusalem) live in the Modi'in area. It's like two different worlds, apparently. My Ra'anana cousins' son, who is about 45, married a girl from Haifa, and that was quite an issue for a while as to who would commute to where. They lived in Netanya (in between) for a year or two then I think she changed jobs and now they live in Ra'anana (which is a very expensive "Anglo" city), with their two kids.

My spoken modern Hebrew is not even that good but I swear I can tell the difference between Yerushelamim and Tel Avivim by the way they speak. ;-)

Anyway --- yes, love to hear you say that Jerusalem is your city, because I feel that way too. I've been to Israel maybe ten visits, lasting from about two weeks to six weeks, but especially since I started staying in that little apartment I just feel that way about Jerusalem.

Wishing you more good weather!
 
Today we walked and walked. Almost 9 miles.

We walked from our apartment in Neve Tzedek to the seaside promenade and walked north to The Old Port. It was a port until the 1960s but now is an outdoor mall that would not be out of place in an American city. We had coffee sitting at an outside table in the sunshine. Perfect weather today, sunny and warm. Wearing short sleeves - and it is almost December!

Then we turned inland, east, along the Yarkon River. There is a park along the river, on both sides, and the Israel National Trail follows this route. We walked all the way to the next suburb of Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan (perhaps it is a city). By now it was 2pm and we had walked over 7 miles. We stopped at an Aroma (chain restaurant) and shared a huge sandwich. They had several vegetarian options. We got “Sabich” which I though was street food but their version was a sandwich with potato, egg, eggplant, and red pepper spread. The young woman asked if we wanted white or black bread. People are so confident in their English here that it is funny when they say something so obviously wrong. We chose black.

Then we walked down the Main Street of Ramat Gan for about 30 minutes to the street where a friend lived 44 years ago. The apartment building that he lived in was about to be torn down! We got there just in time! We took photos and emailed some to him. Ramat Gan was noisy and busy where we started, but down here it was quiet, peaceful.

We hoped on a bus that took us through more of this area and then into central Tel Aviv where we got off at the natural food shop we like. I bought things to take home - tahini, sesame seeds (@Amy says they are really fresh here), organic olive oil, halvah in small packages, dates for friends (Joe gave us enough dates to last for months). Then back on the bus and home. By now it was 5pm, dark out and cooling off.

We went out for dinner to the vegan restaurant we went to our first night, Zakaim.

Yesterday I was overwhelmed by the city and tired. I am happy that we rested most of the day. I really enjoyed today.

I am liking Tel Aviv, but Jerusalem is my city.







Mmm, I love mint tea.
 
The last day of the trip! We fly home tomorrow late afternoon, overnight at Heathrow, then drive to Dorset on Wednesday.

Today we enjoyed the sun on the patio, then walked up Rothschild looking at the lovely white buildings. Then further up to Rabin Square and around that area. Finally we took the bus back. I feel like I know the city a bit now.

There are a lot of museums and we did not go to any. Instead I will read about the history here. With such lovely weather it is hard to go into a museum.

We haven’t spent much time in big cities in recent years, so maybe our complaints are about cities, not about Tel Aviv. It feels crowded, more than Jerusalem. The sidewalks are full of people. When there is a wider sidewalk people on electric scooters or electric bikes zip past you in the pedestrian lane even though there is a bike lane. When did people start using these electric things? Lots of people smoking. An overwhelming number of shops. Cars beeping. Lots of construction.

I like the history of Tel Aviv, how it was purposefully built as a safe place for Jews to live. How it was sand dunes and some people purchased the land at what is now Rothschild and Herzl and they designed and built the city. It feels like a vibrant city and is probably a great place to live if you are young and working. People are friendly to us. I love that it is on the Mediterranean. But it is too busy for us.

The weather has been great but I can imagine how hot it must get in the summer.

I like our neighbourhood, Teve Tzedek, but it is under construction. We hear three big projects from our balcony.

Anyway, we leave tomorrow. Back to the UK in almost winter and the Brexit chaos. I am sure I will miss this sunshine.



 
So just did a binge-reading of this trip now that you're heading home! I hadn't been able to keep up before. I LOVE the photos and landscapes, and am so thrilled at all these great experiences you two are having in Israel! So fun to read it all!
 
Lovely!

It’s been a nice long trip for you, so I was wondering when you were going to stay in Rosh Pina, but I guess I was wrong about that. Or it’s possible that I have your trip mixed up in my head with Douglas’ trip —- Douglas from Trip Advisor whose stay overlapped with yours.

Safe travels!

It’s all good!
 
t’s been a nice long trip for you, so I was wondering when you were going to stay in Rosh Pina,

Rosh Pina in March I think. We can do some hiking in that area. I was reading Douglas’ trip notes and he was in Rosh Pina.

At the airport! Much faster through this time, just under an hour.

Hummus, tahini and other spreads in the lounge.
 
What a wonderful, fascinating trip you've had! I've really enjoyed following along. (I'll look forward to your next adventure!)
 
We are home now but I’ll write about our last day.

Our flight was not until late afternoon so we had a last morning in Tel Aviv. It was sunny and almost hot. We walked along the sea to Jaffa, as we did on Saturday, but this time it was not crowded so we walked further.

We walked to the port. Jaffa is the original town here. Tel Aviv was built in the early 1900s. Jaffa is very old and was ruled by a variety of people. It ended up as an Arab town. The port was the main one, except during Ancient Roman times - they used Ceaseria. Jews emigrating to Israel from the late 1800s on came into this port, then took the train to Jerusalem. They built a new port in Tel Aviv because of attacks by Arabs, and that was then used. The Jaffa Road in Jerusalem comes from the Jaffa port.

We continued on through a surprisingly upscale area to the Jaffa Market, an area of shops selling antiques and crafts, also booths on the road. Interesting, lively and fun.

We walked back along the sea and that was it. Our almost four week trip to Israel was over.

I was glad to be heading home and am happy to be home now as I write this. It was a long travel day yesterday and we overnighted at the airport before doing the three hour drive home today. The great news - the spiders had not taken over the house as I had feared. We get so many spiders here.






 
Tomorrow will be two weeks since we came home from this trip and I have another trip booked - March! I'll start a new thread for planning.

Here is a video I uploaded from Wadi David in Ein Gedi - African Christians joyously dancing in the water from the springs.

 
Tomorrow will be two weeks since we came home from this trip and I have another trip booked - March!

Colour me green with envy! I long to return to Jerusalem, and would also like to add an excursion to Petra next time I'm in this part of the world. (Hoping very much that there IS a next time!)
 

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