Could there be a better place for my first Jewish wedding – Israel part II

---

When I got off the bus in Tel Aviv, I was greeted by my long-time travel buddy Micha (who I met in 2003 in Thailand) and his lovely fiancé Simone. They took me for a quick Israeli breakfast before meeting some of the rest of the Toronto crew.

Micha is an orthopedic surgeon, and his friends are also underachievers. The wedding crew consisted of a brain surgeon, an urologist, a few docs in internal med, some medical students… the list goes on. The “Sharman, so what do you do question,” was a little easier since Micha had prepped them all that I was a professional traveler.

Micha had organized a two day beach stay at place in a little cove north of Tel Aviv. Our rooms were right on the beach, and Micha’s sister and brother-in-law Ruth and Elad had organized all the meals (which included doses of hummus in three-hour intervals). Ruth thought of everything, after an amazing kebab bbq with all the fixings, we had a bonfire on the beach with bananas and chocolate wrapped in tinfoil.

You would think that sitting on a hot beach all day would not make us hungry, or that sitting in a bikini would make you want to eat less. But not this crew. We pounded back so much food it was a little disgusting.

For two days I lazed at the beach, chilled in the warm water, played some beach volleyball, and ate myself silly. I was very excited when Shannon (boy) and Dion (girl), arrived to increase the number of non-medical cool kids to the party.

After stuffing ourselves on the free breakfast, we checked out and drove north to Haifa to check out the Bahia gardens. One of the newest religions – the gardens ascend up the hillside with a great view of the water. Haifa – check!

Since Israel is like the size of PEI – it didn’t take us long to get to a villa south of Tel Aviv which Micha had rented for the night. With a pimped out poolside and beautiful interior, it looked like we could have filmed a rap video there.

More food (again thanks to Ruth), more alcohol, and more fun in the sun. With more people arriving everyday, it was a chance to meet more people from Toronto and Tel Aviv who would be coming to the wedding. That night 16 of us slept in the house scattered among bedrooms and on cots.

Time to Party in Tel Aviv

I had yet to spend some quality time in Tel Aviv – which is party central for Israel, and home to what Micha believes is the best restaurants, food, clubs, and beaches. Milan (internal medicine) and I were crashing at Ruth’s place. Arriving on Friday meant I only had a few hours to check things out before Shabbat kicked in and most things closed, but Milan and I had a great walk around town, found a killer juice man and a place to have dinner.

That night we went to a rooftop party held by one of Elad and Ruthie’s friends. $16 got us entry to the roof with a DJ spinning and all you could drink. Within an hour I was sporting glowing horns and dancing away, and after the cops shut the party down at 12:30, I went behind the bar to pour some remaining drinks and make friends with some fig liqueur that tasted like juice. By 2:30 I was loud talking my way home in the back seat of Elad and Ruthie’s car.

The next morning I woke up and had to put myself together to meet Eldad – one of the first people I ever met backpacking – we met on Koh Phangan on my trip to Thailand in 2003. He was in the Israeli military back when I met him, now he’s in advertising, married, and loving life in Tel Aviv.

It was so good to see him, he looks exactly the same, and we had some good laughs over the random stuff we did in Laos. I’m still mad at him for forcing me to go into the Mekong. I am sure there is some parasite or creepy thing that seeped into my body and is waiting to attack in years to come.

The afternoon consisted of more food, meeting Milan’s girlfriend who had just arrived from Montreal, and then getting in some Tel Aviv beach time (and major people watching) with Micha and Simone. After the beach we went to a hummus restaurant. Now – back home – hummus consumption usually consists of dipping a carrot stick in a small container that someone brings to a potluck. Not in Israel.

We each got our own bowl of warm hummus, topped with extra chick peas and olive oil. Pitas are supplied for those who can consume gluten, but it was perfectly acceptable for me to pour some of the garlic/lemon sauce over my bowl and dip in with a spoon. I love Israel. I love Israel.

With the arrival of Milan’s gf and Micha’s brother back for the night, there was no room for me at hostel Ruthie – but her and Elad found me a couch to surf. Hagay (who I met the night before at the rooftop party) was willing to offer his couch to one backpacking Canadian girl.

That evening we went to a club that was a beautiful venue along the water, but filled with what I can only describe as the Jersey Shore of Israel. I had a riot people watching, picked up some sweet dance moves for the wedding, and had multiple escapes from creepy old guys.

After the bar Hagay introduced me to what I can only describe as the best ice cream I’ve had on my trip. As an indecisive ice-cream eater, it was very entertaining to have him translate the flavours multiple times so I could have my perfect combination at 1 am.

Monday morning I walked around Jaffa (which has something to do with Jonah and the whale) and went to one of the best hummus places in Israel. Instead of a pita they offered me slices of onion to dip my hummus with; yes, I am Ukrainian, bring it on. I had horrendous breath as I walked along the boardwalk back to Tel Aviv.

From the beach to the desert

Afterwards I jumped on a couple of buses to get myself to Dead Sea. I stayed at the base of Masada in a youth hostel where I was adopted by 4 beautiful French girls (3 of which were surgeons, I can’t escape the medical community). We woke up at 4 am to hike Masada - a site of ancient palaces and fortifications on top of an isolated rock plateau.

The sunrise was nice, the billions of school kids at the top were not. By 6:30 we were walking down and it was already smoking hot. The alternate is to wait til 8 am to take a cable car – there is no way you could climb we did by 10 am – the temperature was like 41 degrees!

After breakfast we chilled by the pool for a few hours, then the girls managed to shove me and my backpack in their rental car. We spent the afternoon chilling by waterfalls at the Ein Gedi nature reserve – this random crack in the earth in the middle of the desert with trees and water, and some rodent thing that looks like a cat-sized giant hamster.

Finally – the moment I was waiting for all day. We went for a float in the dead sea. Axelle couldn’t manage a swim, she made the mistake of shaving her legs the day before which causes serious burning. I had a bug bite that stung but otherwise the worst part was accidentally getting some in my mouth. One of the girls (who I will not name), farted in the water and it burnt – well you know where. I was laughing so hard!

They wanted me to pee in it because I had shared the warning from Micha to not pee in the dead sea because it burns, burns, burns. It was so weird, you float, but it feels like you are bobbing in oil – it is so thick you can’t spend more than about 30 minutes in there.

I sadly said goodbye to the girls and got myself to Jerusalem where I couchsurfed a night with Eran – a very cool guy with a fluffy cat who was recommended by the American girls I met in Turkey.

In the morning I went back to the Western Wall to write my own wish on a piece of paper and stuff it in the cracks. (not Jewish but people told me to do it anyways). Oh, and I had to stop back at the famous Jerusalem market for to get some falafels, hummus, and fresh dates for my bus ride.

My First Jewish Wedding!

By mid-day I was in Caesarea for the wedding. Let me explain. I think it may have been the best wedding I have ever been to. When we arrived at 6:30, there were 3 food stations set up (a hummus bar, sizzling meat dishes, and gluten) an open bar serving up killer mojitos, and people coming around with trays of more delicious treats. One of the servers was also Celiac so she pointed out all the treats I could have.

The ceremony was on the beach at a seriously stunning venue – and both Simone and Micha looked amazing. Immediately afterwards we were ushered onto the dance floor for the Horah, aka 45 minutes of intense circle dancing and cheering while people were raised on chairs above the dance floor.

The chairs came down and time for more food. All-star food stations were set up around the venue (which was stunning), which were all amazing. 300 people enjoying some of the best food I had in Israel. I was a fan of the mojitos, but the Scotch bar was a major hit with Team doctor from Toronto.

The rest of the night was filled with dancing, desserts, party favours, more food, more music, popsicles, more dancing….. and on and on. Someone was walking around with martini glasses filled with ice cream and passion fruit sauce (I justified having more than one because I couldn’t eat the chocolate soufflé in the espresso cup).

They had 3 photographers, some photos showed up on magnets which were printed for guests to take away. With a videographers there all night we felt like celebrities with the paparazzi around. I think the music stopped at 2:30, and I was back in my seaside bed by 3 am.

My last day in Israel was spent walking around Tel Aviv with Shannon and Dion before meeting the crew for one last bowl of hummus. Yum. I got to the airport early, just to give them extra time to rummage through my bags. The five-hour flight on Easy Jet to London was brutal (damn no-frills plane didn’t even have reclining seats).

When I arrived in London at the worst airport in the city it was 11:30. It took me an hour to go through the non-EU passport line before getting on the bus to Victoria station, I then waited for the night bus to Brixton. Strangely, when I arrived at Laurie’s place and found the key waiting for me under the bin I felt like I was coming home. By 2:30 am – the air mattress and duvet he had set up for me looked like an angel’s pillow.

Overall – I had a great time in Israel, the sights were amazing, food was great, the people everywhere were so kind, and the wedding was freaking unbelievable.

---