We've been committed to exploring Tel Aviv (Israel's largest city) the past few weeks. There's tons to see and do, and we've only scratched the surface. We wanted to share a few highlights from our most recent day trip.
The easiest way to get to Tel Aviv from Haifa is the train. It's fast, cheap, and efficient. Once there, we can walk to almost everything we are interested in seeing.
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| One of the many bike and pedestrian trails in Tel Aviv |
First stop on this trip was the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Surprisingly spacious (especially for Israel), they have an impressive collection of art. We spent most of our time in the Impressionist section, but also toured contemporary (lots of Andy Warhol) and photography. There was a special exhibit commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war. It was small, but intense and captured the feeling of that moment in history.
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| Tel Aviv Museum of Art |
Next, we made a long trek to the Nachalat Binyamin market - a weekly craft fair showing the works of Israeli artists: jewelry, ceramics, paintings, textiles, glass, and seasonal items. Surrounding this pedestrian mall are a variety of restaurants, cafes, and shops, making it a great place to spend a few hours. We have been on a quest for a Chanukah menorah (technically called a Chanukiah since menorah literally translates to lamp). Last time we visited the market, we had spotted one we liked and, since Chanukah is right around the corner and a chanukiah is on our list of items to get while in Israel, we decided to go for it.
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| Our Chanukiah - stained glass and an unusual round design |
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| Street performer at the market - a wannabe Joni Mitchell? |
After perusing the market, we decided to get some food while on the walk back to the train. Trying to be healthy, we got a delicious fruit smoothy at one of the ubiquitous smoothy stands. We followed that up with another Chanukah treat - sufganiyot! Basically a jelly doughnut. To redeem ourselves, for dinner we stopped at a small restaurant called Fresh Kitchen and split a delicious cheese and roasted veggie panini and a salad.
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| DELICIOUS sufganiyot! |
We also stumbled on one of the best music/movie stores we've ever seen. They had every movie you could think of organized by genre, actor, director, and country - even an entire shelf of Canadian films! We browsed the extensive music collection and Jason picked up a CD of instrumental middle-eastern flavored jazz by a native Haifa musician.
It was great to explore Tel Aviv and enjoy the beautiful weather. We plan to go back again soon.
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| Just one example of Tel Aviv's interesting architecture |
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