Blogs from Tel Aviv District, Israel, Middle East - page 4

We're halfway through our trip as we entered into Day 5 of our 7 day journey. The weather was a little more humid than usual but nonetheless I was excited as usual for what today had in store which was a trip to Hazor Tel Hazor. This was going to be another 2 hour drive that would take us to upper Galilee and north of the sea of Galilee. We went ahead and picked up breakfast this time around at Maganda and took it with us to Hazor as we decided that we would eat lunch at a restaurant called Kvish 90 located in Rosh Pina which was 12 minutes away from Hazor. We arrived at Hazor at 10:01 that morning. The city of Hazor lay almost nine miles north of the Sea of Galilee. During ... read more

The shekel is a currency that stretches back to biblical times, and has been resurrected to drive commerce in modern day Israel. Although the State of Israel was only proclaimed in 1948, this is an ancient land with a powerful sense of history and a deep religious significance. It's a wonderful thing to witness a country embrace it's past with pride, and the Israelis reintroducing the shekel helps bring that rich history back to life. Israel today is a modern, innovative and technologically advanced country, but steeped in the history and tradition of their forefathers. Located within the bustling metropolis of Tel Aviv is the ancient port of Jaffa, continuously inhabited for 5,000 years and the oldest port in the world. The juxtaposition of the old and the new can be seen at every turn in ... read more

Today was another homework day. Luckily, there are worse places to do homework. Although Marie had to leave early for work, I slept in until about 10:00. At that point, I went to Xoho, a cafe a couple blocks away where I got beer bread. I’m still not exactly sure what it was, but I think it was beer-battered bread with a salmon shmear on it. Regardless, it was delicious. I hung around and worked for a couple hours before moving to an even better place for homework. On to the beach it was. There are several bars on the beach along the Tel Aviv coast, so I picked the closest one. Like most places in Tel Aviv, I picked my own seat, so logically one close to the water and in full view of the ... read more

And Frenchies. For some reason there seem to be a plethora of those two groups here. About 30 feet from our apartment, there is a juice place that makes fresh-squeezed juice and smoothies out of literally everything. I started the morning there and then walked down to Jaffa, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. I had a walking tour of the area from the same company that I used for all the cities I visited in Europe a couple summers ago. Our guide was, to put it nicely, VERY eccentric. It made for an interesting tour if nothing else. Towards the end, I met two German college students, Daniel and Sevi. It turns out that the German semester system works differently: instead of one semester, a short break, another semester, and then ... read more

We began the day by singing a few verses of a hymn based on Psalm 34:8. Taste and see, taste and see the goodness of the Lord, Oh, taste and see. This hymn was appropriately chosen because two of our three stops today were associated with breaking bread together. Our first stop was a Jaffa bakery that has been owned and operated by an Arab-Israeli family since the late 19th century. Besides serving good food, they also advocate for peace between peoples of this land. It is part of their mission to employ women and men of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds. Great mission; great food! To read more about this wonderful business, click here: url=http://http/www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/a-historic-bakery-in-jaffa-produces-pastry-and-peace-zbcz1408.aspxhttp://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/a-historic-bakery-in-jaffa-produces-pastry-and-peace-zbcz1408.aspx/url... read more