beaches, art, a lot of walking, lunch in Jaffa

 I thought I'd just check out the beach closest to my hotel this morning... which led to walking along the waterfront for quite some time.  There's a long promenade that runs along Tel Aviv's 13 beach sections, each of which has a different vibe.  There's sporty beaches with a lot of volleyball nets, surf/paddleboard beaches, an Orthodox beach with alternating days for men and women and high walls to maintain privacy, a gay pride beach, a dog beach and some beaches that look like one long party.

It was early, so most of the people watching was along the promenade, where there were runners, bikers, walkers, people working out, coffee drinkers and a few early morning beachgoers.  I had in mind that I wanted to go to the Nachalat Binyamin Art Fair, which is only up on Tuesdays and Fridays, so today had to be the day.  It was a fair ways off the beach, so I headed into the city.  It's a much less chaotic scene than the Carmel market nearby.  Still, the people displaying their art, jewelry, wax works, woodwork went on for blocks.  Fortunately, I was fortified by a stop on the way at Moran Gil Bakery.  Their threshold said it all:

Architectural history signs are posted on many of the older buildings in Tel Aviv.  Most of those I passed were from the "eclectic" 1920s or International period.  I have a Bauhaus tour planned for tomorrow so I saved reading about those buildings for tomorrow.  I wanted to get back to the site of the Herzliya school, now an office tower, in which there's mosaics and a photo display on the history of Tel Aviv.  I'd only had a couple of minutes there yesterday.  

Today I found out that those photos were 100% captioned in Hebrew, so hard to piece together faces and time line.  The mosaic, though, was well worth a second and third look.  There's two mosaics, but the star is a mosaic that artist Nahum Gutman created in Ravenna, Italy, with over a million pieces of stone and glass. It's in four sections, telling the story of Tel Aviv and it's breathtaking!

Did you notice that my little "walk on the beach" has now covered a lot of ground?  Do your feet hurt just thinking about this?  Read on.  

I then decided that I would just walk to Old Jaffa, it just didn't look that far.  I had a lovely meander down Shabazi St in the Neve Tzedek area, to get back toward the waterfront. That street has charming cafes, clothes stores and a lot of jewelers.  

a Muslim entryway in Jaffa

To cut a long story short, things got a bit less charming for a while, but after walking over 15,000 steps, I ended up at Old Man and the Sea Restaurant in the port of Jaffa.   And don't worry -- I did wonder at one point if that empty chair I saw in a tattoo parlor might offer my tired knees a rest, but I kept going. 

The clock tower in Jaffa is one of seven built by the Ottoman Empire, this one was finished in 1900.

And here's my hummus with lamb and salad.  There was a refreshing beer too.  The restaurant owner sat down with me to clink glasses and talk about life, being an Arab in Israel, and the beauty of living in Jaffa.  

A cab ride back got me home 6 hours after I'd set out for that little walk on the beach.  I can tell you that a little rest does wonders and I'll be heading out tonight to Tzfon Abraxes, a restaurant known for its burned sweet potatoes (among other things). I'll report on that tomorrow.