Gabi On The Go: Going back thousands of years! - Saturday

The day started early for me: at 4am! My bio clock is all mixed up with the time change. The result? the whole family was out on the beach at 8am! The sun was shy, but Julia was brave enough to go for a swimn with papai into the Mediterranean Sea.

From there we walked along the beach, heading south, then east into the city to the fancy Rothschild Boulevard, one of the main streets in Tel Aviv and also one of the most expensive one. Many of the historic buildings are built in the Bauhaus style... and that's why we went there. There is a free walking tour on Saturdays, starting on 46 Rothschild Blvd, but we ended up not joining the group because there were too many people. Still, it was nice to see how lively this neighbourhood is.

Julia could not resist and interacted with one of the many pieces of art around the city. The Green Chair is a famous monument at Rothschild Blvd.

From there we continued heading southwest, towards the Old Jaffa, and accidentally found another good surprise: The old Jaffa Railway Station. The area is now a high end shopping and a fine dinning place. Today it was especially busy because of the weekend, with lots of children and parents enjoying the beautiful weather.

FROM http://www.touristisrael.com: HaTachana, the Hebrew name for the old Jaffa railway station has recently been transformed into one of Tel Aviv’s smartest public spaces. Located between the Tel Aviv Beach and Neve Tzedek, the city’s first Jewish neighborhood to be formed outside ancient Jaffa which has become a lively and trendy neighborhood of renovated pastel houses, designer boutiques, and cafes, especially along Shabazi Street, which ends where the HaTachana complex begins. HaTachana has a brilliant selection of cafes, restaurants, and interesting boutiques ranging from fashion, of course, to wooden games, all in an enviably realistic historic setting.

HaTachana was originally built in 1892 as the terminus for the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway. When the railway closed, the site fell into decay and was an unused piece of prime real estate. The transformation into what has become one of the city’s hottest spots has not ignored this heritage and the complex includes a jumble of refurbished rail cars, freight terminals and train tracks to nowhere. There’s even a disused cement factory, circa 1905, that has been repurposed as retail space.

My pianist finds inspiration wherever she goes!

We arrived in the Old City of Jaffa at lunch time. It was really hot, but the place has so much energy that we didn't mind to continue exploring its colourful and loud streets. Most of the shops and restaurants that we saw at the entrance belong to Arabs, and that's where we decided to eat.

The food was amazing!!! Each little plate was a different vegetarian sauce or dip, in addition to lamb, kebab and chicken. To die for! The service was also incredible: fast and friendly. Julia was very popular and in few minutes the whole staff new her by name. It was a great and inexpensive experience, about 20 dollars a person.

We can find pomegranate everywhere. It's fresh juice is also popular.

More architecture of the old city of Jaffa.

Julia Bieber!

Do you like her hair style?

We took a 45 minute tour about the place and its history. It was a nice information session for only 5 dollars. Also, we could see what was underneath the old city, an archeological excavations. I won't even try to talk about its history here, since there is too much to write and I've learned just a bit today. But it's definitely interesting to do a search if you are ever thinking to visit this place.

From the old city of Jaffa (5000 years old, yes FIVE THOUSAND), with the new city of Tel Aviv (just over 100 years old) behind us. The old and the new!

Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea.

Narrow streets of Jaffa, where all the shops are art studios.

Floating Orange Tree - Artist: Ran Morin

FROM WIKIPEDIA: Among the city streets of old Jaffa is a hidden work of Morin's known as the Floating Orange Tree. Finished in 1993, this is a small orange tree that is elevated off of the ground by a large earthenware jug hung by metal chains from the walls of houses nearby. The tree is growing out of the pitcher, trying to break it. Morin sought to emphasize the increasing world of separation between man and nature, as "creatures that grow in containers."

This statue is hung only a foot or so off of the ground - enough to see its shadow, but not so high that it seems about to fall down.

The street signs here are horoscopes signs. I couldn't find gemini. :(

This door knocker is for our friends Ilona and Piotrek, from Toronto. They have one of the coolest door knockers: - a turtle - so I thought they would appreciate this.