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Published: October 4th 2013
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TEL AVIV DAY 2 - Shalom! I was a little better at the breakfast buffet this morning, I didn’t try to eat the whole display. Our tour day started with an overview by our tour guide Matt. He has been with Tauck 30 years and this is his 50th Israel and Jordan tour. We will be joined each day with local tour guides specializing in that area. Our guide today was Or, a resident of Tel Aviv and he proved to be an excellent guide, giving us a well balanced description of the history of the area and the perspective of the various groups involved in the conflicts and challenges of modern Israel. We even had a brief Hebrew lesson. Another beautiful day, sunny, temperature around 80, humidity 60%, light breeze. I saw several barefoot men in swim suits carrying surf boards and heading toward the Mediterranean Sea. Surf is not high here, but apparently high enough to have some fun. I saw one man on a motor bike with a surf board attached.
We boarded our bus and traveled along the shore to Old Jaffa, the historic old city which has survived several ups and downs over the centuries.
It is now pretty well restored and archeological digs are ongoing, but the view of modern Tel Aviv is remarkable. St. Peter’s, a Roman Catholic Church, is a beautiful old church and even Napoleon was a conqueror here. We walked through the old town and marveled at the shops which were primarily artist owned. It has become mostly an art colony with potential new residents needing to be approved by a committee of artists acknowledging their art is worthy. After a couple of hours of walking through the streets we went to a local restaurant for a great lunch. Several salads were shared and then each person chose an entrée; ravioli, chicken, or pork osso bucco which was my choice. After lunch we boarded the bus at a designated spot and proceeded to Rothschild Boulevard, a major section of downtown Tel Aviv with a lot of restaurants and shops. Here you’ll find, among many others, a McDonald’s, a couple of Italian restaurants, and even a Patrick’s Irish Pub!
Our final stop of the day was at the site of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination on November 4, 1995. Mr. Rabin was Prime Minister of Israel at the time. There is a
memorial at the site. Dinner was on our own tonight so I walked to Patrick's Irish Pub to see what an Israeli Irish Pub was like. It took about a 15 minute walk from the hotel to the pub. Everything was in Hebrew but the bartender spoke English. The TV was set on a soccer game between two Israeli teams and the commentary was in Hebrew. I chose the fish & chips and a couple of Oak Porter beers from the Negrev Brewery. I asked what the fish was and was told it was St. Peter's fish. This is a fish from the Sea of Galilee and it was good. I'm packing tonight for a ride to Caesarea and Haifa. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were impressive, but it's time to move on.
ILYS
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Aveeya
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Going up to The Land
"Who walks four cubits in Israel is assured a place in the world to come" Johanan. Talmud : Ketubot,111a. I am so happy for you, chaver (friend)! One day , G-d willing, we'll go up to the Holy Land as well.