Good Morning Tel Aviv
I’m blogging on the run here. I just woke up in Tel Aviv. Nothing makes me happier than waking up in a new city I’ve never seen. OK, well some things make me happier, but not many.
On top of which – we have not been out of the country for well over a year. Our two trips last year were both canceled at the 11th hour. India was due to pollution and Columbia due to various issues out of our control.
So, I was thrilled to arrive here last night.
One of the easiest flights ever. We left at midnight; Went right to sleep and woke up two hours before landing.
I would love to tell you we have seen a lot. But we got to the hotel at 7:30 PM. For us it was noon.
We are staying Jaffa the oldest part of what is now a very modern city. This still feels old, just the way I like it. It is primarily the Arab quarter.
Our hotel is in the center of everything and used to be a jail and then a police station.
Alex, who checked us in is French. Like many French, he has moved here to escape the anti-Semitism there. After the rash of attacks in New York last week I wonder how many Americans will do the same.
I asked him if we should eat in the hotel and he said “Why would you? You’re in Isreal, get some flavor of the neighborhood. Go across the street and down the alley and turn right and you will find Ramesses. Mediterranean tapas.”
So we quickly changed and headed out. Lucy and Glenn thought I had gotten them lost. I knew exactly where I was. Well, I didn’t. But I figured it out.
It was an exceptional dinner in an alleyway, with locals drinking wine and soaking up hummus with bread and munching on kebabs. It was so good in fact at five in the morning when Glenn woke up and figured out I too was awake, though I thought I was being quiet. I never want him to know I’m awake as he starts jabbering.
He wanted to go over our dinner dish by dish. He started with the grilled octopus. At that moment the call to prayers echoed through our room. I do love that sound.
I told him to go back to sleep and after coffee, we go over the meal dish by dish and I had photos of each one. That made him happy and I got in an extra two hours sleep.
Now it’s time to wake Lucy and go explore a new city.
