During the week, we spend all of our time in Jerusalem, particularly at Hebrew University. On the weekends, we take trips to various parts of the region. This weekend we visited Tel Aviv.
We left for Jaffa around 10:20, and arrived about an hour later. As we pulled up to the clock tower, Joel jumped into our car. According to wikipedia, the clock tower was built in 1906 for Sultan Abdul Hamid II's 25th birthday. This sultan was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman empire, and was the last sultan to rule with absolute power. We didn't talk about any of that, it was merely a meeting point for picking up Joel.We will drive to Old Jaffa, the oldest city on the Mediterranean shores from the time of King Solomon and the Prophet Jonah, conquered by the Egyptian world, the Babylonians, and 26 different civilizations. Without a doubt, Jaffa is the gate to the Holy Land. This ancient port is now part of the municipality of Tel Aviv and has a heterogeneous population of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Parts of the Old City have been renovated and contain old restored buildings, art galleries, theaters, souvenir shops, restaurants, sidewalk cafes and promenades.
Joel. What a character. Joel was a large, burly man with a ratty ponytail and a colorful version of English that he claims to have picked up from sailors. Even though he has been a tour guide to some of the most prestigious guests of the embassy (the Bush entourage inlcuded), he doesn't hold back from using words like "asshole" or "fucking". (Another brief aside about embassies, since I've just mentioned it. Embassies generally exist in the capital city of foreign countries. Israelis consider Jerusalem to be their capital; however, given the controversy surrounding the city, most countries house their embassies in Tel Aviv.)
We parked on a side street, and after witnessing the coolest tow truck of all time, settled down to some lamb shawarma in a building whose stone arches breathed history. Joel began the first of his numerous tales. After giving the basic background of the city, and how it had been conquered and reconquered, and how it was at the heart of many stories, he told us about the rocks of Andromeda. His retelling of the Greek mythology wasn't the most acurate version, but kept us entertained. Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, and was tied to the rocks (supposedly at the Jaffa port) as a punishment for her mother's crimes. In Joel's version, Perseus decapitates Medusa and uses her head to turn a sea monster into stone and rescue Andromeda, all while riding on Pegasus. This newly stoned sea monster (Cetus) then breaks into many pieces, leaving the rocks as they now sit, the "Rocks of Andromeda". For more information, check your local night sky.
As we left the alley, Joel pointed out a 'parliment', his word for a group of older men who hang out, discuss politics, and play board games.[picture of this parliment, coming soon]
Then we headed up a hill along the coast. One of the most contagious aspects of Joel's personality is his willingness to talk to anyone on the streets. We passed a guy who was sitting in his parked car listening to music, and Joel struck up a conversation with him and proceeded to clap along to the music.
[picture of this car, coming soon]
At the top of the hill, Joel pointed out the cannons of Napoleon, and St. Peter's Church. We proceeded up to the top of the hill, across the Wishing Bridge. The Wishing Bridge had metal bands representing each zodiac symbol, and visitors are supposed to place their hands upon their symbol, look out to the sea, and make a wish. Unfortunately, given the hot sun, it was difficult to touch the scorching hot metal for an extended period of time, so I made my wish in short bursts.
Immediately after this bridge, we viewed one of the many gates of Jaffa. It might be hard to view the details in this reduced image, so click on it to enlarge.
We proceeded down the mount, passed an archeological site where an old Egyptian gate was being excavated, and entered into the artistic district, which wikipedia tells me is named the "zodiac alleys". Here, lots of artsy shops dotted the alleyways, and some artistic sculptures added to the artistic feel. The most interesting was the Suspendu Orange, an orange tree "growing" from a stone "seed" and suspended about two feet above the ground. This structure by Ron Morin was completed in 1993, and has since become a popular tourist photo-op.
We wound our way back toward port, and caught some more scenic views of the sea, as well as the city.
Around 5pm, Abeer met us at the beach, and we began to follow her towards Hertzelya, where we would enjoy a lovely dinner at Assaf's parents' house. Our car caravan ended up going a bit chaotic due to a fork in the road and a last minute decision to to turn left instead of right. But we got there.
Then somehow I magically ended up in Assaf's car. Assaf is one of the MEET co-founders, and it felt really great to be able to converse with him about both MEET and life. As we talked, he lead the way for the car caravan consisting of a large chunk of the instructors. A few returned to Jerusalem, but most remained in Tel Aviv to enjoy the night and the following day. We wound up at a ridiculously awesome roof top bar to meet up with Assaf's friend for his birthday. I don't know the name of the bar, nor the absolute location, but it was close to Lincoln St., and lovely.
Assaf bought our first round of drinks (mine was a gin & tonic, of course) and we awkwardly stood chatting with each other as the rest of the bar guests rambled in Hebrew. A subset of our group split off to go enjoy the beach during the nighttime, while the rest remained on the rooftop for more enjoyment.[Another picture of rooftop bar, possibly]
Around midnight thirty, the rooftop crew left the bar and went off to a new location, stopping by Amir's apartment first to drop off bags and such. Juan, Amir, Assaf, Froy, and I went to a club together, while Aaron and Sam went elsewhere. Honestly, I've never even been to a club in the US, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it seemed to have a nice vibe. It's also probably infinitely less sketchy than the Boston clubs, especially given the high cover charge.
[picture of club, unlikely]
We danced and danced, and around 3:30, left the club. Some people wanted to go onward, I wanted to sleep. So I went to the car, where Sam was already sleeping, and I drifted off to the sounds of rambunctious twenty-somethings.
Next Post: That Time This Story Continued, Because It's Not Over Yet
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