A Tale of Two Cities (Israel – Tel Aviv and Jerusalem)

Even coming straight after Italy, Israel was a gastronomic and cultural highlight. We gorged ourselves on pita and hummus, roamed along expansive beaches, and bore witness to religious passion of all kinds. Still a young country, what stood out for us was Israel’s strength of community – everywhere we went, we felt a sense of trust and kinship, and we enjoyed some absolutely stellar hospitality. It’s easy to forget, while sitting comfortably in a Tel Aviv hipster bar, the tremendous effort that has gone into successfully inhabiting such a parched, unforgiving landscape, but a few hours’ drive in any direction provides a stark reminder.

We began our visit with a brief stop in Tel Aviv, and then moved on to Jerusalem. The two cities are an excellent study in contrasts. Tel Aviv is a modern (~100 year old) buzzing hub of technology startups, coffee shops, clubs, and boardwalks overlooking beaches full of bronzed volleyball players. Jerusalem has been inhabited for millennia, and is the holiest city for Judaism and Christianity, and the third-holiest for Islam. Simply walking around the sites is a breathtaking experience, intensified by the quiet reverence and spirituality exuding from the crowds. Just an hourlong drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem bridges these two distinct worlds.

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is the kind of city we could both immediately imagine living in – it’s well-designed, clean and easily navigable, and while it lacks the striking sights and the depth of history of many other cities, there’s no shortage of ways to spend your time. Thanks to the extensive network of bike lanes, and the ludicrously healthy local population, Tel Aviv’s version of city bikes seems to be the primary mode of transportation, and we did our best to join in despite the still-searing September heat. Fueled by some delicious iced coffees (another local favorite), we mostly spent our far too brief time there soaking up the atmosphere on the beach, in the parks, in glistening shopping malls, and in bustling markets.

Bikes, art, and modern offices in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv represents the modern, tech- and commerce-focused, energetic Israel. It’s full of life, and has a thriving startup scene, supposedly the most dense outside of Silicon Valley. People aspire to be tech entrepreneurs, and the Israeli style of rapid decision-making, creativity, and experimentation seems to be ideal for building technology companies. Evidence of this is everywhere – billboards on all the streets advertise new apps the same way the billboards do on Highway 101 from Palo Alto up to San Francisco, and you can’t go to a single coffee shop without overhearing someone pitching a new idea to someone else. This startup and technology boom is pretty recent, and the energy is palpable.

The Cyber Horse art installation at Tel Aviv University, a reminder to the computer science students of the importance of security. It’s constructed from computers that have been infected by malware (like Trojan Horse bugs…)

While Tel Aviv is overrun with boutique shops and Williamsburg-esque bars, most of these are on the boardwalks and main streets, so you can still find sleepy, pretty backstreets evoking the Tel Aviv of a century ago

Tel Aviv probably has one of the most exciting food scenes in the world today. The youthful, sociable, and well-off population has brought celebrity chefs in droves to open new restaurants – and not only at the high end. It’s not uncommon to wander into an unassuming street side eatery, complete with chalk board menu and paper napkin dispensers, and encounter a meal worthy of a michelin star. The only sign that there’s a master chef behind the scenes is the massive line of people waiting outside!

We did our best to take full advantage of the high quality, relatively low priced side of the culinary world, and although we undoubtedly missed a lot we enjoyed some fantastic meals – many of them thanks to our amazing Airbnb hosts, who were at least as passionate about food as us and insisted on sharing all of their highlights. Pita pockets have long been a huge thing, typically stuffed with either spicy meats, falafel or roasted cauliflower, as well as a cornucopia of salads and mouth watering sauces. More recently, the focus has been on the sabich – an Iraqi import, also in a pita pocket, made with boiled egg, potato and some positively glorious fried aubergine (eggplant, for our US audience). And of course, all of this would be nothing without the abundance of free pickles that are offered up with every meal.

Noisy chatter at sidewalk tables, a fast-changing menu written on a chalkboard, and an artisinal cabinet of roasted cauliflowers – our first pita stand experience set the bar very high

Sabich central. Pickle selections in the foreground. Perhaps most impressive is watching the maestro do the entire two dozen step process of assembling a sabich with one hand in under a minute while having two simultaneous conversations

Nearly every eatery in Israel has a sink with a cup in it to perform the blessing over washing the hands. We were later to discover a similar arrangement in toilets in India for a far more temporal need

A sabich in its native environment – i.e. getting devoured at a frenzied pace. Also note the multiple courses of side pickles

The markets in Tel Aviv are packed with great food stalls, some of which are essentially full-fledged restaurants, and all of which are easy on the wallet (by pricey Israel standards at least). We spent a few meals at the Carmel Market, the most famous spot for some casual dining, and were not disappointed. The noisy bustle of the market stalls all around provides a fantastic atmosphere in which to enjoy the spicy, piping hot treats being dished out in quick succession – and the ample people watching opportunities make for a great passeggiata between courses.

Greek shakshuka – with feta and aubergine. And a healthy (half finished) glass of complimentary wine, which may or may not have been refilled

This was taken during the tiny instant that everywhere wasn’t totally crammed with people. The scent of the spices goes well with all the fresh food being served from stalls

Juicy fruits are a huge thing in a desert country, be it pomegranates, watermelons, pineapple, mango, etc.

Baklawa, Jess’ favorite ever treat. How could someone be so dour with so much deliciousness in front of him?

Fiery meats, enrobed in pita, and surveying their dominion

We also tried out a hipster burger-type place which was amazing. Lots of great middle eastern flavors applied to a variety of dishes from around the world. The highlight was the “Do Not Order This,” a cocktail made with cynar, the bitterness of which went extremely well with the spice. Being rebellious, we ordered it a few times.

Rulebreaker!

The evening bar / cafe scene is fantastic, although we’ve come to the conclusion that the residents of Tel Aviv simply don’t sleep at all. There are numerous outdoor places to drink, chat, and entertain yourself while sampling small, tasty snacks. And this goes on without letup until the wee hours of the morning, weeknight or not. At the end, people head on home to wake up a few hours later and head off to their software startups (which explains the coffee obsession).

Ethan took an early lead in the outdoor bar backgammon series, but his growing lead in the beer series led to a series of massive defeats, leaving Jess the reigning table game champion

A lot of the Tel Aviv social scene is built around the beach. The beach promenades are teeming hives of activity, and the beaches themselves are covered with fine, white sand and excellent facilities for the public (showers, bathrooms, changing rooms, lockers). We got our reps in every day at the beachfront calisthenics parks, and worked on remedying our farmers’ tans to varying degrees of success. Despite the small-ish waves, there is a vibrant surfing community in Tel Aviv, although the speedo quotient among them is perhaps higher than in most other surf hotspots.

Beach promenade selfie, with a pomegranate, naturally

Overlooking the northern end of the beaches, with the tip of Jaffa in the far background to the left

Tel Aviv is a very new city, being only about a century old. It was built on what used to be swampy lands, and many of the early buildings reflected the styles of the european immigrants who constructed them. Consequently, there are a great many fantastic examples of Bauhaus architecture in the city, especially along Rothschild Boulevard.

One of the historic buildings of old Tel Aviv, now housing a small museum

Rothschild Boulevard, flanked by “bauhauses”

In addition to visiting Tel Aviv, we also spent half a day in nearby Jaffa, a much, much older city immediately south of Tel Aviv. Historically it was the gateway to Jerusalem, and had a small port and eventually a railway. Since the rise of Tel Aviv, Jaffa has declined in importance, and is now mainly a tourist spot, but a recent effort to revitalize the community by bringing in an artists’ colony appears to have taken root.

The clock tower in central Jaffa

The Old Jaffa railway station which served as the main link to Jerusalem from the late 19th century. Temporary home of a hipster beer festival when we visited

An art installation of an orange tree suspended in the air, alluding to Jaffa’s history as the home of, you guessed it, Jaffa Oranges

Walking around the winding stairs of Old Jaffa

The Ancient Egyptians had a temporary trading presence in Jaffa a long time ago. This excavated gate shows how as the city grew, new construction was piled on top of old, leading to the city rising higher and higher over time

What’s an artists’ colony without its street art?

Jaffa today is home to some seriously bustling markets. We passed through these and stopped at a very no-nonsense pita place. The food was excellent, but you really needed to take initiative to get served, find a table, etc. We learned about the delicious combinations of eggs, hummus, and spicy little things, all swaddled in pita, and provided at some very reasonable prices.

We’d heard that 2016 was the year of the resurgence of the motorcycle sidecar, but this one is further ahead of the trend than can be imagined

Capturing the scene at the Jaffa Market

Above all, what we loved about Tel Aviv was the outstanding strength of the community and the warmth that people displayed to one another. Our Airbnb hosts were simply amazing – they told us all about life in the community, took us to dinner, and gave us great advice about what to do and how to get around. And on numerous occasions we were approached by strangers who offered to help us out or show us directions. People are very direct and not shy at all, so you’ll end up having a conversation with nearly everyone around you wherever you are – which can be a little disconcerting at first, particularly for a Brit, but quickly becomes the norm.

What is interesting is the contrast between this high level of trust and kinship and the ever-present, highly visible security and military operations.  You’ll see off-duty soldiers with their rifles on every street, and most large buildings – shopping centers, hotels etc. – have an airport-style security check at the door.  On the other hand, people leave houses unlocked and won’t think twice about leaving their table at a sidewalk cafe and having someone else watch their bag.

Jerusalem

Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are complete opposites in many ways – while the former is a very young city, obsessed with newness and racing forward into the future, the latter is built around the past, and is focused on linking this past to the present. What this means in practice is a city surrounding the most important sites for the major western religions and filled with pious people in devotional dress, but also one peppered with artsy coffee shops and serving as a home for many young families who wish to raise their children in a powerfully spiritual environment.

#dovesmeetsmartphones

We spent a few days in the Old City, making our way through all four quarters (Jewish, Armenian, Christian, and Muslim) and absorbing the cumulative legacy of millennia of devotion. Like most visitors, we first made a beeline for the Western Wall – probably the most dramatic reminder of the city’s longstanding clash of cultures, since it forms part of the ruins of the Second Jewish Temple, destroyed by the Romans, and today sits in the shadow of the Dome of the Rock and the Muslim-controlled Temple Mount.

The Western Wall and Dome of the Rock

Visitors can write prayers and leave them in the spaces between the stones of the Western Wall. Thousands of little messages in all different languages peek out. Every year these prayers are taken and buried up on the Mount of Olives with great ceremony to make room for more

The huge significance of this site is obvious to any casual observer – for religious pilgrims, the strength of emotion which comes to the fore is in many cases visibly overwhelming, and there is a deep sense that you’re witnessing something truly special. You see some very different reactions to the Wall, ranging from Hasidic Jews in black hats and jackets rocking forward and backward while uttering prayers, to soldiers in uniform silently leaning against the wall with eyes closed, all the way to casual tourists in shorts suddenly struck silent by the intensity of the feeling around them. Step back twenty feet from the wall, and the atmosphere changes to a friendly bunch of old guys catching up with one another as they do every day, a scene that wouldn’t be out of place in an Italian village square.

We also took the chance to tour the large portion of the wall that runs deep underground, past the ladies’ area and through a narrow, seemingly endless tunnel tracking the western edge of the former Temple. It was amazing to understand just how enormous the complex once was, and how magnificent it must have looked.

Several different layers of stone in the underground portion of the wall. The bottom stone apparently weighted more than three hundred tons, and how it was moved remains a mystery

The ceiling of a set of (now empty) cisterns at the northern end of the underground portion of the Wall. While they’re dry today, even the sound of a drop of water put us on edge given the lack of an easy exit

Indiana Jones is just around the corner – the water tanks below the north end of the Wall

The other world-famous monument in the Old City is, of course, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Once again, this site provides a perfect example of the conflict which has forever dogged the city – in this case, disputes between six Christian religious orders regarding their claims over the church. Today, the church has been carefully subdivided and a relatively tranquil compromise exists on the basis of the status quo, represented by the Immovable Ladder which has reportedly sat outside the building since the 18th century.

The ladder leading up to the right of the two main windows is a somewhat absurd symbol of peace. While none of the many Christian groups that shares control of the site actually wants it there, leaving it as the status quo avoids argument on matters where actual conflicts do exist

We were taken aback by the warm welcome we received inside the church, and the enthusiasm with which the various Christian guardians encouraged us to explore. As you might expect, the interior is something of a cluttered jumble, but certainly a beautiful one, and the obvious significance of the experience for the pilgrims around us made our visit unforgettable. Ethan did have one inadvertent brush with blasphemy as his long-suffering shorts finally split open a bit at the rear, forcing him to stretch his shirt downwards, tunic-like, for the duration of our visit.

A federated approach to Christianity, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is really a set of churches within a church, allowing each of the different Christian sects to control their own subdomain

The Old City is overlooked by the Mount of Olives, a mountain ridge sitting to the east of town which features heavily in the old testament but is better-known for its role in several key events in the life of Jesus, as well as its 3,000-year history as a cemetery for some of Jerusalem’s most important Jewish citizens.  We spent the early morning hiking up and enjoyed some incredible views, before joining the hoards of visitors making their way down via the plentiful religious sites. We also had our first proper experience of Levantine haggling, wherein we got to negotiate the price of a soda so that we could use a restaurant bathroom to change into appropriate-length trousers for church visits.

Looking back at the Old City, with a Jewish cemetery in the foreground

The Chapel of the Ascension, a Christian-Islamic site sitting at the very top of the ridge

One of the unexpected highlights for us was the Church of the Pater Noster, which houses 62 translations of the Lord’s Prayer, many of which covered languages of places we’ve visited so far in the trip

The exquisite Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene

The Tomb of the Virgin  Mary. We got to put our Italian knowledge of church arch types to good use this day

Religious devotion meets subterranean baroque

The Church of All Nations (and heights)

At the base of the Mount of Olives are several fascinating Jewish tombs cut into the cliff face

We also spent some time exploring the city center, where once again we were bowled over by the friendliness and warmth of the community. Down the main parade of Ben Yahuda street, chirpy students ran around handing out flowers to passers by, and every side street was gleaming with lights, decorations and street performers ahead of the new year celebrations. When Ethan briefly wandered off to get a snack, Jess found herself surrounded by chatty vendors who, rather than trying to sell her anything, simply offered her a chair and a coffee while she waited.

The extraordinarily friendly Kippa Man – an expert in matching kippot with saris, it would appear

Once again, we hit the jackpot with our Airbnb in Jerusalem with two of the most amazing hosts we’ve ever stayed with, and we found ourselves wondering if maybe hospitality was just universally great in Israel. We found ourselves quickly settling in to a fun, youthful neighborhood, a little removed from the city bustle but with heaps of character and activity. Signs of the hipster takeover were prominent – including the recently converted bus stop library and Jerusalem’s own version of the High Line, sprinkled with track side restaurants and parks.

The availability of Marmite in our Airbnb brought Jess great joy. Supposedly goes well with pita

Some impromptu dancing of varying virtuosity beside the converted railway line

Sampling the local restaurants was a lot of fun, from the expat-owned casual pita-and-tea joint to the Wagamama-esque Japanese restaurant (we have to scratch the itch from time to time). We also stumbled across a street festival one night, and had an amazing evening chomping on Israeli Meze while we watched the marching bands, dancers, and traditional musicians roll past.

Don’t let their expressions fool you, these guys were having quite a good time

Lest young children drown in the festivities, a lifeguard is provided at such occasions

In the Levant, the most lively breads must be slaughtered before consumption

We spent the better part of a day visiting the Israel Museum, which should not be missed. It comprehensively covers the history of Israel in a very engaging way, with an endless array of unique historical artifacts. We’re ready to be quizzed on the details when you see us next.

This installation houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest existing manuscripts of portions of the Old Testament, which were discovered in a cave by Bedouin shepherds in the 1940s

The Museum also includes exhibits on Jewish culture around the world, including a great exploration of Venetian Jewish history. The complete interior of Vittorio Veneto Synagogue was transported to Israel in the 1960s

In addition to the wealth of historical artifacts, the museum had several great interactive exhibits, including this one tracing the evolution of Hebrew, and its relationship with other alphabets of antiquity