Saturday and the Shabbat

Saturday and the Shabbat

Tel Aviv - 6am

Following the Dead Sea and Masada tour, I was ready for another day of taking it easy. I had hoped to sleep late, but my body wasn't about to let me. I woke up around 6am and decided to walk around the town, starting with Carmel Market. Nothing was open - the place was like a ghost town. I didn't know if that was because Saturday was the Shabbat (Jewish holy day of rest - sorta like Sunday used to be years ago in the US) or because it was very early. As the Carmel Market turned into Allenby Street, I realized the same thing. Sheinken Street is said to offer upscale shopping and it's right near Allenby, so I walked up that street - everything was still closed.

Carmel Market is a ghost town on the day of the Shabbat

Looking for an open cafe

Walking a bit more aimlessly, I crossed on to Rothschild Boulevard. I may have mentioned this before, but Rothschild Boulevard is a street full of restaurants and a wide walkway (with bike lanes) down the center of the street. It's great for people watching and home of my regular pub, Polly.  I noticed someone in the patio of the cafe and chatted with the local. His girlfriend worked there and they would open in about 45 minutes. After thanking him, I ventured off to get a rental bike and road  around town. Eventually, further down Rothschild I found a cafe that was open. I'd spend the next couple of hours there updating my blog and researching what was open on the Shabbat. Shabbat technically ends after the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday. I'm not sure what happens if it's overcast. Anyhow, this would be my last night in Israel, so I really wanted to make it count.

 

EspressoBAR

Lunch @ Rustico (yum)

After some though, I decided to go over to the Opera Tower shopping mall. Opera Tower is adjacent to the beach, so if it warmed up hitting the beach might be a nice option.  I knew the general direction, so I somewhat aimlessly head over to the general direction of where I thought it was. I knew for user it was across from the water. I passed around Dizengoff Street and head a much further north than I intended. Not a big deal, as I enjoyed seeing parts of Israel I might not otherwise. However, it was time for lunch. I was feeling Italian (probably craving carbs are all that cycling) and after consulting Trip Advisor, I found a well rated inexpensive restaurant nearby. I figured I couldn't go wrong with an Italian restaurant called Rustico on a street called Basel.

 

Rustico 

Inside Rustico, from my bar seat

After getting situated at the bar I pulled out my kindle to start reading about the next leg of my adventure, Cyprus. Before I could start reading a very friendly bartender started chatting with me. I put in my order for pasta and we chatted a bit about what to see, do, etc. He suggested I check out a street not far from my apartment called Lillenblum. I should note the bar area I was sitting at was empty and there were probably about 8 empty chairs. About halfway through my meal a couple came to sit at the bar. Given all the space I figured they would be seated further down, especially since I had my bag on the chair. Oddly, they were seated right next to me and I was asked to move my bag. They were also a bit close to me - enough to where I could hear everything they were saying in Hebrew. I wonder giving people personal space is just an American thing.  I will note the pasta w/basil, garlic, and olive oil I had was fantastic!

Opera Tower

After lunch I head over to the waterfront to head towards Opera Tower shopping mall. I had expected it to be something like Chicago's Water Tower Place. Not a chance. Aside from an open food court on the main floor, all the shopping area had soaped windows (i.e., it wasn't simply closed because of the Shabbat).

Opera Tower Shopping Mall

(not my photo)

The Beach!

By this time it was around 2pm and very sunny. It was a bit cooler than the day before, but still very comfortable in the upper 70s or lower 80s. I would learn that a runner would die from attempting the half Marathon the day before. During the Chicago marathon something similar happened. The coordinators ran out of water at many of the stops. Spectators did the best they could buying and offering water to runners - but it wasn't enough.  In any case, very sad.

The beach was fantastic. There are chairs scattered throughout, but I wasn't sure how it worked. I approached a couple of people lying around to inquire but none spoke English. Eventually I saw someone reading a Kindle - the book was in English so I knew he knew English. I asked about the chairs and he mentioned some guy will just come up and charge you 12 shekels (about $3-4). He spoke perfect English and later told me he was from the Tennessee. Jon, like me, he had taken 3 months off and decided to travel. He had a few days left before heading home. We ended up chatting a couple of hours about his trip - he had gone through Egypt, although by land, had lived and taught in the West Bank (crazy because he was Jewish), and visited Turkey with his family for a week. He had strongly suggested a place called Cappadocia. Cappadocia was suggested by a Turkish friend I made the day earlier - notably the woman our tour guide told the crowd I would marry. Since he had been to Egypt just a couple of weeks earlier I had asked him his thoughts. He had said western reports of civil unrest were completely untrue (teenagers yelling about Mubarak was the most he saw). He went via car and said it took him about 24 hours to get there - it was a completely ridiculous experience. A bit part of the problem crossing by land has to do with visas. Visas are easy to obtain at the airport, not when crossing by land via the Sinai. He also mentioned one of the highlights of his entire trip was seeing Garbage City - something I will have to add to my agenda. He mentioned many of the problems he encountered were due to the fact they had no guidance and were winging it to some degree.

Tel Aviv Beach

Sunset - Old Jaffa

I was determined to get a good photo at sunset of Old Jaffa before I left. So I head off to the waterfront with my SLR to get some shots. For some reason the data cable isn't working correctly so I couldn't download the photos just yet. 

 

Old Jaffa 

(not my photo)

Checkout w/Raviv

After sunset, I was scheduled to meet with Raviv to checkout. I wouldn't physically surrender the unit until the next day though. Raviv ran by, with a beer in hand, and we chatted for a bit. I had written him earlier letting him know about a mix up. My flight was to leave at 6:30pm, not 8am like I had though (the default iPhone setting stated the time in Chicago time for some reason even though I was in Tel Aviv. After chatting for about 30 minutes, Raviv said he would swing by noon the next day to check me out and say goodbye. This expression might be dated and inappropriate to say in Israel, but Raviv is the bomb.

iPhone users - turning off "Time Zone Support" in Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendar fixed the issue I had and all items appear in the time zone I am in. I can also specify a time zone when entering an appointment. 

Last Night in Tel Aviv

  

Since this was my last night in Tel Aviv I wanted to hit up a few of the places that had been suggested. First, Abraxas which was suggested by the server/bartender at Rustico. Following Abraxas I would wing by Polly to say thank you and goodbye to my friend Roy. Unfortunately he was off.

Honoring St. Patrick's Day with anIrish band playing at Abraxas - they were quite good.

Band (complete with Bass) playing off Rothschild Boulevard at 1:30am

 

Outside Polly, no Roy :(