We'd already decided that we wanted to spend more time in Jerusalem, but the availability of our home there (a very nice, very reasonably priced Airbnb) coupled with all of the Jewish holidays in October made it tricky to arrange this.
Both on Shabbat (sunset Friday til sunset Saturday) and on major holidays, almost all public transportation and most tourist attractions are closed. October is THE big season for Jewish holidays (a fact we hadn't realized when planning our trip). In fact of Sarah's seventeen days in the country, seven of them were Shabbat or holidays.
Eventually we decided that we'd head north to the further reaches of the Mediterranean coast, then back south along the sea to Tel Aviv before returning to Jerusalem. We took a train from Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon station which must be literally about 100m underground (actually, having just looked it up, it's the deepest heavy rail station in the world, and the 4th deepest rail station overall, with platforms at 80m below street level).
A change of trains at the airport and we were on our way directly to the rather obscure Atlit station. We were headed there so we could make the 30 minute walk to Ha Bonim beach. I'd already spent plenty of time walking on beaches a bit south of here, but:
- Sarah hadn't
- It's reputed to be one of the best and nicest beaches in a country with many nice beaches and
- Camping is explicitly permitted on Ha Bonim beach
If we hadn't already known this we would've got a pretty good feel for it as we walked along the shore. All along the 2km or so that we walked were impressively organized campsites, with big sunshades, tents for sleeping in, chairs, tables, even couches set up. Apparently it's a popular spot for lots of Israelis to have inexpensive beach holidays.
We went for a couple of swims and started to walk back up the beach, setting ourselves up right near its centre for our first night sleeping together in our new tent.
Next morning we rose with the sun and headed back to Atlit to continue our journey north to Haifa.
Haifa is Israel's biggest port. It's got one big tourist attraction, the Baha'i gardens, which climb up the hill with the city towards Mt. Carmel. At the centre of these gardens is the tomb of the Báb, the first prophet of the Baha'i faith (or rather, the first new prophet, as they accept most of the prior prophets of other world religions as true prophets). This makes the site the second most holy Baha'i site, second only to Akko, just north of Haifa on the coast, where Bahá'u'lláh (the second and final "new" Baha'i prophet) rests.
The gardens are pretty spectacular in their scale and precise geometry. You can actually only visit the top half of the gardens, and then only on a tour, but fortunately we arrived at the bottom in time to climb up the 200m hill to the top. The tour gives you an overview of the construction of the gardens, and a bit of info about and promotion of the Baha'i faith (which is, I suppose, fair enough).
The other thing we wanted to do in Haifa was to get into some real Israeli food. I'd had one shawarma in Jerusalem, but astonishingly, we hadn't had any falafel yet! My walking mate from Shvil Israel, Sachar, had suggested that Haifa as a place where lots of Israeli Jews and Arabs live side by side, was a great place to eat falafel.
For our first one we went to Falafel Hazkenim, which certainly looked like the real deal. The sandwich was a small pita absolutely jam packed with crunchy falafel balls, cucumber, tomato and a rich lemony tahini sauce. At the counter where we sat to eat there were containers of pickles (cucumber, cabbage, hot peppers and bright pink turnips) to accompany. It wasn't cheap (21 shekels, or about NZD9.50) but it was darned tasty and made a meal for both of us put together. We barely had room for a plate of sticky sweet, pistachio and honey laden sweets from an Arab bakery down the street.
Sarah, predictably, wanted to visit some wineries while in Israel. On Shvil Israel I'd found the perfect place. We'd have to make it quick, as we couldn't spend the night, and had to make it to Tel Aviv before sunset and the beginning of Shabbat (and the end of public transport). As it turned out we had really only got one winery visit in (we got to a second while they were still open but had stopped doing tastings -- they still very kindly have us a couple of half glasses to compensate us for long hot walk to reach them).
Anyway, the one winery was Carmel, one of the biggest in the country. This wouldn't inspire one with thoughts of a great personalized wine experience, but one would be so wrong! One of the winemakers happened to be at the tasting room. He'd worked in NZ and we had a grand time chatting away about wine in both countries and how the industry was developing in Israel. We had a lovely bright fruity red, an ever-so-slightly off dry white that reminded me of a Pinot Gris or Gewurtztraminer, and a bigger red with lots more oak, with invitations to refill our glasses as we wished with each. Before he left he dug into a bag and handed us an unlabelled bottle that he explained was from a single-barrel fermentation of 100% (white) Colombard grapes on skins for six months. It was amazingly delicate and un-tanniny, and felt like a real treat when we got to try it a couple days later.
Tel Aviv is the exact opposite of Jerusalem in so many ways. Jerusalem is thousands of years old. Tel Aviv less than a hundred. Jerusalem is inhabited mostly by the same groups that have inhabited it for hundreds of years. Tel Aviv has all of these, but they're joined by lots of immigrants from Ethiopia and Sudan, especially in the southern neighbourhood we were staying in (way more interesting than the more polished areas near the modern city centre). And Jerusalem is on a high, dry plateau covered in olive trees, while the heart of Tel Aviv are the beaches at its centre.
We had a couple of great days walking around the town. Tree lined boulevards with bike lanes in the middle. Arty gentrification of old industrial areas around the Jaffa flea market. The flash new Sarona market, filled with international food stalls. And of course the aforementioned beach, which stretches for kilometres, forming the western edge of the city centre. On Shabbat in particular it was crammed with Tel Avians enjoying their "Sunday", playing Matkot, swimming in the limited number of places where it was allowed (still don't understand this) and lounging on and undet umbrellas and beach chairs from the city's automated beach equipment rental kiosks.
Unlike Tel Aviv proper, Jaffa/Yafo/Yaffa actually does have lots of history behind it. It's at least 3500 years old. And while it doesn't have quite the density of sites as Jerusalem, its compact old town still has locations linked with everyone from Jesus to Richard Lionheart to Napoleon. And its fishing port is a pretty little place that, surprisingly, reminded us of the Wellington waterfront.
But of all the things we did in Tel Aviv, the most important was to remedy the second of our great Israeli culinary food deficiencies. We had our first (and second, and third) non-pre-packaged hummus. To wit:
Hummus Abu-Dubi:. Odd in that it was a reggae themed hummus restaurant. Nice, mostly outdoor seating. Subtle hummus, restrained on the tahini, garlic and lemon. Whole cooked chick peas on top. Side plate of pickled cukes and chili peppers, olives and onion (scooping up hummus with slices of raw sweet onion is great!) Free refills of sides and pita, even hummus! Free coffee too! 30 Shekels with tip.
Hummus Abu-Hassan: The classic. Probably the most common answer to "best hummus in Tel Aviv" (actually Jaffa). A little more tahini, but still subtle. Probably winner of our favourite hummus in Tel Aviv. Came with onion and a small dish of crushed chili and lemon. Also 30 Shekels.
Hummus Eliyahu: Biiig lot of hummus. Solid hummus, still probably my least favourite of the three, but still probably better than any prepacked or homemade hummus I've ever eaten. Single plate of olives, pickles and onion, but refills of pita and hummus, and of the pitcher of fresh lemonade we got (which is probably the classic hummus beverage). 38 with lemonade.
Final gastronomic stop in Tel Aviv was the oldest brewpub in Israel, the Dancing Camel. The staff (and the owner who showed up later) were friendly. Beers were good, if subtle (even the ones with unusual ingredients like chili and pomegranate). I really liked Happy Hour in Sodom, a salted caramel porter, both for the beer and the name. We also inadvertently ended up guests at a stand-up comedy open mic night.
All in all this was a fun interlude in modern, and a first step into the gems of Israeli cuisine before returning to Jerusalem and more of the ancient Holy Land.
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