Where: Tel Aviv, Israel
When: September 13, 2012
With: Dave
Dad was going on a business trip to Israel, and after the part where he actually had to work, he was doing a bit of site-seeing for the weekend. Dave and I thought that since we'd only be a short flight away, why not join him?
Our first stop was in Tel Aviv. My dad had to head into the office that day, leaving Dave and I to explore this city by the sea. It looked beautiful from the hotel balcony at 6am (4-hour red-eye flights are just a teeny bit too short). From here, you could see all the way to Jaffa (the bit jutting out into the ocean at the end of the shoreline).
We started our journey to Jaffa by walking along the beach. It was really hot out, and both locals and tourists alike were taking advantage of the sea to cool off. Sadly, we only had half a day to explore, so we had to keep moving along.
As we got closer, we left the beach to walk along a promenade that lined the shore. The buildings of Tel Aviv itself weren't very scenic, so we kept our eyes focused to our right on the gorgeous sand, surf and Jaffa port.
When we crossed in Jaffa, the atmosphere changed drastically. Gone were the modern buildings of Tel Aviv and instead, we found small streets, intricately designed and clearly, very, very old. Back in the days of the Bible, Jaffa was famous for being a port-town. The small stores lining the streets looked like they've been housing merchants since those days - more like rounded caves dug out of stone than a formal store-front.
With limited time to explore, our main goal was to see the famous harbor that has been in use since the Bronze Age (about 5,000 years ago). But as we circled this ancient area, we kept going up the hill rather than down to the port. No worries, we got some good views of some of the restored area.
After seeing the harbor, we spent some time just wandering the Zodiac Alleys, a tangle of sandstone steps that hide several little shops that you can pop into, many of them art galleries and jewelry makers.
When: September 13, 2012
With: Dave
Dad was going on a business trip to Israel, and after the part where he actually had to work, he was doing a bit of site-seeing for the weekend. Dave and I thought that since we'd only be a short flight away, why not join him?
Our first stop was in Tel Aviv. My dad had to head into the office that day, leaving Dave and I to explore this city by the sea. It looked beautiful from the hotel balcony at 6am (4-hour red-eye flights are just a teeny bit too short). From here, you could see all the way to Jaffa (the bit jutting out into the ocean at the end of the shoreline).
After a quick power-nap/the-only-sleep-we-really-got-since-4-hours-isn't-long-enough-for-a-red-eye, we went out for a quick breakfast. I only ordered scrambled eggs, yet we were presented with this masterpiece. An array of hummus, bread, cheese, and salad indicated that we were going to like it here.
We started our journey to Jaffa by walking along the beach. It was really hot out, and both locals and tourists alike were taking advantage of the sea to cool off. Sadly, we only had half a day to explore, so we had to keep moving along.
As we got closer, we left the beach to walk along a promenade that lined the shore. The buildings of Tel Aviv itself weren't very scenic, so we kept our eyes focused to our right on the gorgeous sand, surf and Jaffa port.
When we crossed in Jaffa, the atmosphere changed drastically. Gone were the modern buildings of Tel Aviv and instead, we found small streets, intricately designed and clearly, very, very old. Back in the days of the Bible, Jaffa was famous for being a port-town. The small stores lining the streets looked like they've been housing merchants since those days - more like rounded caves dug out of stone than a formal store-front.
The view back on Tel Aviv from Jaffa.
With limited time to explore, our main goal was to see the famous harbor that has been in use since the Bronze Age (about 5,000 years ago). But as we circled this ancient area, we kept going up the hill rather than down to the port. No worries, we got some good views of some of the restored area.
We finally found some signs that took us down some very narrow alleyways and led to the harbor.
While it still houses boats, it hasn't been in operation as a port since the 1960s. Still, it was pretty cool to be at our first official spot where supposedly a Bible story took place - Jonah set sail from here for his famous encounter with a whale.
After seeing the harbor, we spent some time just wandering the Zodiac Alleys, a tangle of sandstone steps that hide several little shops that you can pop into, many of them art galleries and jewelry makers.
We ended our walk at the base of the Wishing Bridge. The bridge has a medal post for each of the 12 signs of the zodiac. Legend has it that if you touch your zodiac sign and look out onto the sea to make a wish, it will come true.
What they don't tell you is that the medal of the signs is REALLY HOT after sitting in the sun all day. I could barely touch mine long enough for a wish.
Jaffa was beautiful, I just wish we'd had more time to walk around and explore it. But we had to keep moving along to see Tel Aviv in half a day!
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