Live with Love and Laughter: More on Isreal

We’re currently in India, but I still have lots of things to say about our time in Israel and Jordan, before I can attempt to cover India. Since it’s late and I’m tired from the hectic ride from Delhi to Jaipur I’m only going to try and cover Israel, and even then I know I won’t be able to do it justice.

Israel was not at all what we expected. In some ways it was worse and in some ways it was better. We arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, October 31st around noon. We had booked a hostel and they had emailed me directions using public transportation, so after getting through Israeli immigration we made our way out of the airport and into the train station. Purchasing the tickets was easy, the train came on time and we got on and had almost the entire train car to ourselves, it was actually kind of strange after the crowded trains in Italy and Istanbul. Once we arrived at the main train station in downtown Tel Aviv we had to find bus #16 and take it to the oceanfront. It sounded easy enough, except we couldn’t find the bus stop. I noticed it was across the highway from where we exited the train station, but we weren’t sure how to cross the highway. Eventually a girl walked up to us and asked where we were trying to go, I guess seeing us looking confused carrying large backpacks was a dead giveaway that we were lost tourists. With her help we made our way down the street to cross over to the other side of the highway and sat and waited at the bus station. As we waited we looked around at the city of Tel Aviv, it was not quite as shiny and cosmopolitan as we imagined.

Tel Aviv is often called the White City or the City that Never Sleeps; we had read that it was a hot destination full of beaches and restaurants. It was less sparkling than we imagined. There were parts that were nice, but there was also a lot more poverty and dirt and crumbling buildings than we expected. When the bus arrived at the bus stop we were a little unsure if we should get on. The bus was a little more like a mini-van and it looked like it might break down at any moment. The driver waved at us to get in, I hoped in with my back pack still on and tried to maneuver to the back of the bus hoping I wasn’t giving anyone in my wake a black eye. Charles paid our fare and since there were no seats left he hunched in the aisle and heaved his backpack to his feet. The bus weaved its way through the streets of Tel Aviv stopping here and there, we heard no announcements of stops and didn’t see any names of the stops, so we weren’t sure when to get off. Charles asked the driver and he assured us he would let us know when we arrived at our stop. In hindsight, we probably could have figured it out, our stop was the last stop, we were the only people still on the bus, and there was the Mediterranean right in front of us. We followed the hostels instructions and made our way down the street a few blocks until we found it. We checked in and were given the keys to our room, it was less than desirable especially the communal bathrooms at the end of the hall, and despite being a hostel it was more expensive than many of the hotels so far on our trip, but cheaper than any other option in Tel Aviv. I was pretty bummed out. But, we were determined to make the most of it, so we decided to walk around and check out the neighborhood around the hostel.

Waiting for the train at the airport train station

Waiting for the bus to go to the hostel

Our hostel room

We walked a block down and oddly enough saw a pub called Mike’s Place. We noticed they were advertising a Halloween celebration and so we thought as American’s we should go in and help celebrate Halloween. The staff was all dressed in costumes and the whole place was decorated for Halloween, we immediately felt at home and didn’t realize how much we were missing America. We began chatting with the bar tenders, who were both Americans who came to Israel to become citizens. They were really nice guys and gave us some tips on restaurants and things to do in the country. Charles really enjoyed talking to them about college football and we both enjoyed just catching up with other Americans. We hung out for about an hour and then decided we should find a place for dinner and get some sleep, we were both pretty exhausted from our whirlwind tour of Istanbul. They tried to convince us to come back later for the real party, but we declined. They assured us if we changed our minds the party would continue on until well in the morning, the rule in Tel Aviv is you don’t close as long as there are customers. So, I guess the tour books are correct on that front – it really is the city that never sleeps.

We followed one of the bar tenders instructions and walked a few blocks down until we found a kebab restaurant. The food was awesome. We had hummus, falafel, and kebabs – yum! After dinner we walked back to cozy up for some sleep in our awesome bunk beds.

The next day after a good Israeli breakfast of eggs, tomato and cucumber salad, feta, and some bread with hummus and jam we were ready to tackle the day. Our plan was to go visit the old city of Jaffa, which is part of the city of Tel Aviv, then just relax and get some exercise. We walked to Jaffa, thinking it was pretty close – it ended up being almost 2 miles away. The walk was nice though, we walked along the oceanfront and took in the sights. The old city of Jaffa was wonderful. It definitely made up for the disappointment we felt when we arrived in Tel Aviv. Jaffa is famous for being the town associated with the biblical story of Jonah and the whale and the story of Andromeda’s rescue. The history in this tiny port town is wonderful, we really enjoyed learning about the stories that originated in Jaffa. After exploring a bit, we walked through the market and met the most interesting man selling artifacts and signs. He was a character! We enjoyed sitting with him and having tea and learning about all the languages he speaks and all of the places he has lived.

Just before we reached Jaffa

Jaffa

After our afternoon exploring Jaffa we made our way back to the hostel to change and go for a run along the waterfront. It was awesome. We miss getting in good heart pumping exercise, we walk a lot, but it’s different than planning a real work out. We were happy that Tel Aviv seemed to be a place where people work out and we were happy to fall in with the crowd. After our workout we went back and cleaned up and found a place for dinner. I tried a traditional Israeli dish called shakshuka and some Israeli wine and was pleasantly surprised – it was delicious. After dinner we went back to our hostel to get some sleep before heading to Jerusalem the next morning.