The White City

I decided to write in English for my friends who may read this post and cannot fully understand my Romanian. They are not native English speakers, so I kind of ''afford'' to make mistakes with my English.

So, this morning we just returned from the second trip to Israel, this time for holliday. The first time we went in Febr 2009, mostly for business, but our hosts took us to visit more places then their office and factories.

This time we decided to come for the sea and beach. Because Liviu was unhappy with the cold sea we met in Spain during our June holliday, he kind of ''begged'' me to go to a place with warm water. So, what to do, where to go, I had a look on the map of Mediterana, and the  closest and least visited by us was Tel Aviv.
Considering we can meet our business friends there for a dinner or coffee, Tel Aviv looked like a good choice.

And, really, it was one of the best short hollidays we had together !
Very few things really bothered us (the crowds, and the dirtiness brought by the crowds...) but not enough to spoil the holliday. As a lesson: avoid Tel Aviv in July and August.

I will post below all the things I liked, hope i did not forget anything.

I wrote down  this list for many reasons: first, for me to remember, second, to help friends to visit (reluctant friends who rely their opinions on media only ) and third, to convince the ones who have never been interested by this city to become curious.

So, let me send myself by email the list written as an Iphone note (yes, Liviu laughs at me for having hundreds of notes. C'mon, 344 is not so many :)))

The list is in cronological order, so it could be read like a diary of the holliday

-  The lazy Breakfast @  Gordon Hotel
- The afternoon swim in the Mediteranean sea at Gordon beach
- Dinner in the first evening at  Manta Ray restaurant (Sharon, my dear, I love this restaurant)
- The painting on the wall of  our hotel room
- My first night swim in the sea EVER 
- Neve tzedek cats (the hide&seek playing kitten, and the orange "Snoopies" on the wall)
- Mango & coffee ice cream
- Ronit Jewelry (Mother and Daughter in the shop)
- Doggies in the eyeglasses shop (Chiquita, the white labrador crossbred w/ Saluki and black boxer)
- Frozen yoghurt w/ fresh figs= Thursday dinner
- Dance show  of the students in the dance workshop with Barack Marshall @ Suzanne Delal Center
- Gazriel home store (vintage black car in the window).
- the 2 days home stay in Caesarea in a friends' house. Beautiful house and  beautiful place this ancient city of Caesarea. This 2 days deserves a new post, there are many important things to write about.

As a conclusion about the trip to Israel, its was worth going for meeting friends, for the beach and sea, for the food (fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and seafood, the combination of spices and recipes from other cuisines  (thai, maroccan, etc),  for the service in the Gordon hotel and, overall, for the passion and liveliness of Israeli people.

I read in a book called ''The Israelis'' (by Donna Rosenthal) the idea that:
''they live like there is no tomorow''.
Sounds strange but after you live close to them, you finally understand.
Shalom!

Things and places to do and see next time:
- have dinner in the Old port Jaffa @ Container
- go to Tel Aviv port - the re-design and development of this area into an entertainment destination
- shopping at Flea market in Jaffa
- go to a street headphones party in Neve Tzedek
- visit the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (closed on Friday afternoon when we decided to go)
- snorkel with the dolphins in Eilat
-visit again Jerusalem and stay in Mamilla hotel
- go on the sand dunes of the beach in Mikhmoret

...and many more to discover