There was no reason to be in a good mood. The news was as awful as ever. But it was Friday morning. We were commitment free, the sun was out and Tel Aviv beckoned.
Where to start? Breakfast in a beit café of course. Jerusalem may have a monopoly on sacred sites, but for a real Tel Avivi the meaning of life is a good pavement seat and a cappuccino. With the caffeine countering the previous night’s hangover, the Tel Avivi is ready for Friday’s reading of the bible – either akhbar ha-ir (City Mouse) or its newer rival, Time Out-Tel Aviv. Studied through de rigeur shades, these will bring him/her up to date on the latest parties, films, restaurants, bars, clubs, plays, concerts, exhibitions, dance venues, fringe events, courses and lectures, sports, fashion shows, music albums, DVDs and of course - cafes.
Tel Aviv’s hundreds of excellent cafes come in styles ranging from techno-aquarium to retro-brasserie-chic. Menus are heavily slanted towards salads, pesto, goat cheese and calamari. While up-market restaurants suffer from the recession, new cafes seem to spring up like the fresh mushrooms in my breakfast omelette.
OK what next? Why not, for a laugh, the ice–skating rink temporarily erected in Rabin Square? On our trusty scooter (two-wheeled travel is recommended in TA) we weave down Rothschild Boulevard - part of a network of boulevard cycle paths. Passing some prime examples of Bauhaus buildings (Tel Aviv has been denoted a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unmatched collection of International Style structures), we arrive at Rabin Square. All tickets already sold out for today’s rink. I look up at the massive 60’s edifice that is the Tel Aviv municipality building and remember reading that it will soon be turned into the biggest picture in the world after local artists have decorated its facade with hundreds of portraits.
Halting momentarily to pay respects at Rabin’s memorial, we reach the upscale gan ha-ir (City Garden) shopping center. Here, among the early ‘end of season’ sales (recession again) a food festival is in full swing. Two musicians (one with a kippa) play traditional Irish jigs, while shoppers wander between stalls offering boutique breads, olive oils, sushi.
Next, the beach. Along with sprawling Yarkon Park in the north, the beach is Tel Aviv’s real open space. The wintry sea has brought out schools of surfers, wind and para-gliders. You can walk or jog (or café crawl) for over three miles along the splendid beachfront from Jaffa port in the south to Tel Aviv port in the north. Now that its hangars have been transformed into interesting spaces for halls, exhibitions, events, restaurants (and of course cafes) the disused old port has become one of the city’s hottest spots.
We could have continued to trendy Sheinkin Street, that synonym for everything the religious establishment detests about brazen, secular Israel. Or perhaps the arts and crafts bazaar on Nahalat Binyamin or the refurbished shuk ha-pishpishim (flea market) in Jaffa, or a gallery or… but by now we were ready for another beit cafe.
Recessions and terror attacks may come and go but Tel Aviv - stylish, provocative, creative, extroverted, effervescent - never stops. And as long as Tel Aviv is Tel Aviv, there is still some hope for Israel.
That’s why I love Tel Aviv.
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/israeldiary/note to mods: The writer is a personal friend of mine and I have permission to post his works in full without a possible copyright problem. Posted for those who have no idea of what Israel can "taste" like. I hope you enjoy David's prose.
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