Tel Aviv | Martin's Tripping

Meanwhile, I made the trip to Akko despite my Tel Aviv host’s discouragement “It’s a dirty Arab town and not really worth the time and effort to get there” he claimed. It indeed did take a while to get there and I can understand… When people tell me they are going to go by train to the Blue Mountains, I’m like, “Whatever the hell for?” But as a tourist, it’s not like you have to rush off to work or anything.. So, I threw caution to the wind, threw on a pair of shorts and off I went.

Akko is in the north of Israel on Haifa Bay, about another thirty minutes on the train past Haifa. Along with other cities, it claims to be one of the oldest continually inhibited cities in the world; about 4000 years apparently and is the holiest city for the Bahai faith. It was initially meant to be part of an Arab state during the UN partition plan for Palestine, but it was captured during the war and annexed along with other parts of Palestine. It then became a development town for thousands of Jewish immigrants mainly from Morocco and then later Russians and Ukrainians from the USSR. However, the old city of Akko still remains very Arab Muslim and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

From a distance, the walled old city of Akko is quite attractive. It sits on a peninsula surrounded by water that comes up right to the city wall. In the centre of the old city is the very attractive Al Jazzar Mosque… and no problem entering in shorts either! The rest of the town is a labyrinth of covered walkways, part market and part residential. There are a lot of sweets and spices at the market and also an open fresh fish market. I’ll pause for a minute, so you can fully imagine the aroma of fish wafting around the labyrinth in 40 degree heat…

To be honest, Akko was a bit shabby and it was mainly a case of take some snaps, tick it off your list and leave. One good thing about going to places like Akko is that it makes Tel Aviv look a whole lot better when you return. It makes it easier to appreciate what it has to offer and overlook the ill-mannered and entitled Tel Avivians and the horrible service you get in shops and restaurants. At the better end of the spectrum, the service in Tel Aviv can be quite stern. At the other end of the spectrum, it’s just downright rude. I was tip shamed the other day at a club. The barman shouted at me, “It’s usual to tip in Israel!” as I went to pick up my change from the tray. I’ve worked in the hospitality industry so I totally get tipping and I generally DO tip … But at bar, when you’ve just paid an extortionate 65 shekels (that’s 24 Australian dollars!!) for an extremely ordinary drink and the barman doesn’t speak to you… He just scowls at you and flicks his face upwards as if to say, “What the f*** do you want?” … Can you explain to me WHY I should tip you?

And now from one extreme to the other: From a dirty Arab town to staying in an Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood in Jerusalem… More to follow!

Meanwhile, I left the Istanbul penthouse last Thursday and flew to Tel Aviv. Things went very smoothly again, although flight-wise it was yet another regret. Just like Asiana Airlines was the cheapest ticket to Istanbul, the 7.55 am flight to Tel Aviv on Pegasus, Turkey’s low-cost carrier, was also the cheapest. I wish I had spent the extra in order to fly non-Korean and I wish I had spent the extra so I didn’t have to take a taxi out to the airport at 4.30 am. Oh well, what’s done is… But make a mental not to do it ever again.

The arrival into Tel Aviv went smoothly. The airport was virtually empty. I got through customs and immigration in a flash, found a cab a shortly arrived at my final destination in Rashi Street in downtown Tel Aviv. It was a bit spooky at first… Seeing all those Jewish grandmothers, I had a momentary PTSD spin-out moment and felt like I had time-travelled back to 1997 to Pier 5 Hickson Road Walsh Bay, when I worked at the Wharf Restaurant.

This is my third visit to Israel, the other two times being in 1999 and 2000. I was obviously 18 years younger and I also stayed with locals on those two occasions. It was also pre-iPhone and pre-social media. I mourn the loss of pre-iPhone travel when all you had to do was go to the travel agent to get your ticket and the bookstore to get your lonely planet guide. Then, if you wanted to rent a cheap room in someone’s house, you just approached an old lady sitting in the train or bus station holding a sign. Unlike these days, you didn’t have to ask for a list of included amenities, cross-check her on multiple platforms or stalk her on social media. No-one needed to be smiley and happy in those days, for fear that the other person would write a bad review

Rent and hotel prices in Tel Aviv is on par with with a surname of the host. It makes social media stalking that much more time consuming when you only have a first name to go by. Anyway, my stalking paid off. Everything here is fine, but still, sharing an apartment is sharing an apartment.

As I mentioned before, the last time I was in Israel was in 2000. It was 18 years ago and I was obviously 18 years younger. You experience life and the world differently in your thirties as you do in your fifties. I think also distance and time lend a certain enchantment. We tend to romanticise and build things up in our minds when we are away from them. I had also at that time travelled solo through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, so arriving in Tel Aviv was like seeing an oasis in the desert. Bottom line is that I’m not getting the high pitched buzz out of Tel Aviv that I was expecting. The food is indeed delicious, even simple street food is amazing… And the nightlife is better than Sydney’s. What does that even mean, “the nightlife is better than Sydney’s”… I’m sure even Damascus and Bagdad have better nightlife than Sydney these days. Nonetheless, I don’t think the reality of Tel Aviv as this amazing 24/7 party and foodie destination quite lives up to the hype (or at least my expectation). As a result, I’m escaping Tel Aviv and heading north to Haifa for a couple of days.

Shortly I’m heading for the train station to make the one hour trip to Haifa. My main reason for going there is to visit the mosques and old city of Acre and the biblical sites in Nazareth. I’m not sure how I’ll go… The heat is absolutely. It makes walking extremely difficult and what’s more you’re expected to wear long pants to enter the mosque. If the same climate of political correctness whereby the locals need to adapt to ME and being offended is my greatest weapon were present here, I could just enter the mosque in shorts carrying a four litre cask of wine and claim it’s all religious. Shorts are acceptable in my religion and wine is given at holy communion. But hey, let’s see… Maybe just seeing the outside will be enough.

Here are a few random snappies from around Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Tel Aviv and Jaffa are not exactly a photographers dream, especially after Istanbul. But hey, here’s Jaffa