Day 4 - Another side of Tel Aviv

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In consideration of our how much walking we’re doing, we decided that one two-hour walking tour per day was sufficient. So we skipped a planned tour in the morning and on the recommendation of the young woman at the hotel, we walked over to the crafts fair at the Carmel market. The Carmel market itself is the same as any market we’ve been in from New York to Saigon…crowded, full of mostly junk and chatkees. The craft market had some nice items, but couldn’t hold a candle to the Paradise juried craft fairs that I love. We lucked out and happened upon a woodworker who made nested boxes that can be used for storing stuff, all the little stuff that no one knows what to do with it, or serving nuts. After waffling a bit, we got two sets one for Josh and Madeline and one for Matt and Jess. Looking at them sitting in the corner of our room, I’m really glad we got them. The artist, Eric, had no last name, no cards and only took cash. When someone asked how long it took him to make a piece, he said 20 years of practice. I’d heard the same line from a glassblower and it’s a great answer. We got a very cute snail hand puppet for Beatsie.

We had lunch at the restaurant owned by Shmulik’s son and his son’s girlfriend of 8 years. It is a modest place near the Dizengoff Center serving humus, salads, and falafel. Very good and very busy. Shmulik arrived shortly after we did accompanied by Mrs. Shmulik. He brought us the first press olive oil from Hebron that he said he would have for us. We chatted for a while and then decided the best favor we could do his son was to leave and open a table. Our seats were filled before they cooled off. The part of Tel Aviv we were in is teaming with activity and young people. Cafes and sidewalks are jammed and everyone is always talking to one another in person or on cell phones. It’s energizing.



After lunch we headed back to the old train station. Ronen Chen clothes have changed over the past 20 years (no big surprise) and I couldn’t find anything that I really loved. I got a cute pair of earrings after Jack approved my selection. And then one of the gastronomic highlights of the trip….Vanigla ice cream. I ordered a medium and even after Jack commented on how rich it was, I had no trouble finishing mine.



Our graffiti tour was another highlight of the trip. Guy, our guide, had started his tours during the Occupy demonstrations in Israel two years ago. 400,000 people in a country of 6,000,000 camped out to protest economic inequality in Israel. I’m not sure what changed, but it was an impressive example of non-violent protest. He was a linguist by training and really knows his stuff. One interesting linguistic factoid is that words in Hebrew often are built on 3 consonants and the vowels take the core meaning of the base and provide variations on the theme. K_D_S is the base string for holy… Kiddish, Kodosh, & Kadis all are rooted in this base. I think the tour was intended to focus on Hebrew, but after appreciating how little his 5 tour participants either knew or cared about linguistics, he focused on art and politics. The tour was in the Florentine district that is in southern Tel Aviv near Jaffa. It is traditionally a poorer neighborhood with a large area devoted to workshops for carpenters, metal workers and furniture makers. The residential areas are being gentrified and the area that includes the small workshops is scheduled for demolition to make way for new high rise construction. Because of the pending demolition the government is happy to let graffiti artists go wild. (In other parts of the city, graffiti when reported is painted over.) Some of the graffiti is heavily political and other graffiti is a more straightforward artistic expressons. The better-known artists are being shown in galleries. The poetry is done by a woman who only publishes her work on walls rather than books. This poem is about an octopus. The praying rabbi is a political commentary done by a French artist. Since the figure is praying toward Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem you have a jibe at the materialistic pull of Tel Aviv. Having the Arabic name for Jerusalem in smaller print highlights the fact that on road signs this is how it’s done and our guide suggested it is demeaning to the Arabs. Another interesting factoid is that the City of Tel Aviv requires all signs to be at least 50% in Hebrew. Our guide pointed out that many companies that want to appear hip and linked with the US, break this rule and duke it out with the authorities. This is also true for companies that cater exclusively to Israelis many of whom don’t read English. The person in our family who would have most enjoyed the tour would be Josh. In fact, all of Tel Aviv is adorned with graffiti that he would appreciate and enjoy more than Jack or I. Having been on the tour, I started to see recognizable work by the more prolific artists all over the city: Dede of the bandage and EGL creator of eggplants. Their styles become immediately recognizable.



We went back to the hotel to change to go for our high-end dinner for our last night in Tel Aviv. A year ago Jack had a wonderful meal at Mizlala. Into each life some underwhelming dining experiences must fall, and this was our first in Israel. ( I don’t count El Al.) The service was bad, the food mediocre, the bill full of overcharges and there was virtually no toilet paper in the bathroom. I usually tip fairly to generously, but tonight I cheaped out. In comparison to the other two dinners it was a C-.

On our way back, even though Tel Aviv is Israel’s secular center, Shabbat really closes a lot of the city, fewer people and less noise. A marked difference.

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Photos

grafitti3
More art from "the Monkey" and braille graffiti symbolic of what we don't see.