My flight got me in pretty late in the evening and the airport was pretty far from downtown, but there was a train that took me into the city and then a bus that took me to the hostel.  The trasnition from the train to the bus was a bit difficult as it was not clear where the bus was going to pick up and it wasn’t a direct connection from the train.  The other difficulty was that it was later in the evening and there was nobody around to ask for help.  So eventually I just waited at a bus stop and when a bus finally came, asked for help on which bus to take.  I was lucky to have picked the right bus as the one I had asked took me most of the way to the hostel and it was only a short walk from the stop.  As it was pretty late, I checked into my hostel and went to bed right away.

The next morning I was feeling energized and exploratory after a few days of rest in Istanbul and was ready to see what Tel Aviv had to offer.  I started off by walking down the beach towards the old city of Jaffa.  It is part of the city, but is very unique in that it is not like the modern part of the city at all.  Narrow streets and alleyways and lot’s of little things to explore.  I grabbed breakfast there and enjoyed a releaxing warm morning looking over the Mediterranean.  The old town juts out a bit and gives you a great view of the city and the beach that runs the entire length of the coast.

It is a beautiful coast line with beaches and a trail running along it.  It reminded me a bit of the southern California vibe.

The old town was cool to explore.

I did a lot of walking and just generally explored the waterfront of the city.

It was an enjoyable walk and there was lot’s to explore!

The beaches were pretty pretty as well!

I walked through the market and enjoyed the smells and activity of all of the vendors.

In general though, I find that markets are more the same than different around the world.  There is obviously local charms but in a lot of cases the stuff is all from cheap chinese factories and the stuff they are selling is a slightly different version of the same junk.  I enjoy checking them out but almost never buy anything.

After walking through the market, it was time to get some food and in this case I wandered into a cafeteria like place which allows you to pick whatever you want from a steam table.  It was delicious!

I then headed to one of the breweries in town called the Dancing Camel.  I struck up a conversation with everyone sitting at the bar and then the brew master popped in and it ended up being a fantastic time.

I spent a lot longer there than expected because I was having a great time!  However, I did eventually need to get going as I was supposed to meet up with a friend I met in Vietnam who lived in Tel Aviv!  Barruck and I met in northern Vietnam and ended up spending a few days together as we had very similar itineraries at the time.  I love being able to meet up with people!  He took me to a few local places that were pretty cool!

We went to a few cool places around Tel Aviv… I am glad he was available to meet up!

The next morning I decided that I had done enough walking the day before and was ready to enjoy the beautiful weather at the beach.  I brought my book and just chilled at the beach for a few hours.  It was lovely.

In the early evening I went for a run along the beach timed perfectly with sun down!

After my run, I opted to just chill in the hostel and hang out with the other travelers that came through.  I was honestly starting to get a bit burnt out and the number of chill days were increasing as time goes on.  I also didn’t really have much planned as far as what to do next and I think that contributed to it a little bit.  I like having at least an idea of what I want to do next and at this point I was being pretty spontaneous.

One of the guys at the hostel I had started talking to the night before was heading to Jerusalem the next day and I figured it would be a good idea to go there as well.  The bus wasn’t until the later afternoon so we had some time to kill and I had heard about a cool craft beer place and wondered if he wanted to join me for a beer before getting on the bus.

The bartender at the place was super nice and we were the only ones in there so was super chatty.  For some reason when we ordered our second round, he poured us a shot of Jameson.  Then he offered us a free round and that included a shot, so a nice afternoon beer before the bus, turned into something a bit different.  But it was a lot of fun and the guy was super cool.  Ryan was a cool guy and we agreed to stay at the same hostel in Jerusalem and continue exploring there.

One thing I noticed about Tel Aviv that I asked the bartender about, was the number of electric vehicles around.  It seemed like everyone had an ebike or electric scooter and they were EVERYWHERE.  I didn’t see that many normal bikes and it seemed like a lot of people commuted with electric assisted vehicles.  I thought it was cool that this was the culture and was kind of accepted everywhere.  A lot of the larger cities had the scooter share services, but this is the first time I saw people owning the scooters and using them as their mode of transportation.  There were also way more EBikes compared to normal bikes compared to other cities.  Huh.

Anyways, Tel Aviv was really cool, but was another example of a modern city, so I opted to head to some spots that had slightly more historical value.  Onwards to Jerusalem!