Day Two - Tel Aviv (Karen Ernest)

We started this glorious day with a typical not-to-be-believed Israeli breakfast. Then left the hotel for a walking tour of Neve Tzedek and Tel Aviv. 
Eric (our tour leader extraordinaire) told us all about the wealthy man Aron Shlush whose granddaughter had a “Romeo and Juliet” story with the starving writer Shai Agnon across the way. Agnon became a very affluent and famous writer. If only Shlush had known!  In Tel Aviv we heard about Theodore Hertzel, about Mayor Disengoff, the Mayor on a mare named Mary. Tel Aviv was named after a book written by Hertzel and established in 1909 by 66 families. It was very interesting how the desert that is now Tel Aviv was separated into 66 parcels of land for those founding families. 

We then went to the Tel Aviv Innovation Center where we had a fantastic presentation about all the innovations discovered in Israel, some being Orcam, Rewalk, the Iron Dome, Pillcam, Gennie and one we all know, Waze!  Just amazing for such a small, young country.  Back on the bus to visit a secular Yeshiva where we had Talmudic study.  Many people, many different interpretations. 

Most of our group then went on a Jaffa Seaport to Tel Aviv port adventure using Segways and bikes. The scenery was beautiful as we went along the Mediterranean Sea on a boardwalk and streets. 
The rest of us went on a walking tour of Jaffa. What a history for this little town. Jaffa is very different than Tel Aviv. The Main Street was chock full of merchants selling their trinkets. It is at least 50% Arab mostly Muslims.


We saw the famous clock tower built in 1906 which to this day still keeps perfect time. Across from clock square is a renovated building which was once a jail with its most famous prisoner being Adolf Eichmann. There’s a beautiful mosque right next to that built in 1812. What a wonderful scene was waiting for us at the top of the street, the Jaffa Seaport. It was breathtaking. It’s hard to express the warmth and glow I felt looking at this scene with four flags of Israel blowing in the wind. Next stop, dinner at a Yeminite restaurant named Maganda. The food was very different and the hummus was terrific. My favorite was the 4 kinds of baklava. What a way to end our time in Tel Aviv. 

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