We are now quite well settled in Tel Aviv – locals according to some people! The city has been great fun thus far – it is an interesting place – chock full of fantastic cafes (highlighting to us the dearth of similar establishments in Glasgow), cute little bars (and entertaining pick-up bars too), and a fantastic urban texture full of white rendered International Style Bauhous apartments on tree lined avenues.
The journey here was a little entertaining – on arriving at our boarding gate in Vienna for our connecting flight to Tel Aviv we were asked if we spoke Hebrew, and then if we were married! With negative answers to both these question we were ushered to one side and given a thorough questioning – our recent somewhat itinerant lifestyle not helping matters! In addition to dragging our bags out of the hold to search they also went to the extent of calling our connections in Israel (one of whom we had yet to meet although we are staying at his funky pad in central Tel Aviv) to confirm our story! Satisfied we weren’t about to blow up the plane we were allowed to board about 10 minutes after the last passenger – and presented with metal cutlery for our meal!! The applause upon landing was also a little concerning. After another solid bout of questioning at passport control we were allowed into the country at last.
The food has been absolutely amazing, we have been continually full since having hummous for breakfast on our first day at one of Tel Aviv’s more famous establishments (see below) this is not a recommended strategy apparently – although delicious.
Our time in the city has been spent wandering between meals – absorbing the atmosphere and meeting friends of friends who have all been very welcoming. Even strangers have been keen for a chat. Our tourist endeavours within Tel Aviv have been limited to architecture – it has been a nice change from our usual Lonely Planet box ticking. I am a big fan of travelling without a guidebook – although local knowledge obviouly is a great help and I think we would have struggled without it!