Day 2: Cities new, old, and post-apocalyptic

I forgot to mention that last night on my way back to the hotel, I found my first Israeli cat!!

I must have left my iphone charging cable on the plane, because when I went to charge my phone at the hotel, it was nowhere to be found. Sigh. Well, it looked like I'd get a souvenir! I had to poke around a few local convenience store before finding one. Along the way I got to check out a few more local products.

Produce:

SWEETS ("I'll save these for later"), which reminded me of the divinity fudge that my mom made gobs of in an effort to perfect in the final months of my grandpa's life:

and balloons. I don't know, maybe I don't look around Oregon enough but it sure seems like the Israelis like their balloons. I saw a ton at the airport and then multiple times since.

Oh wait, one more thing. A heated case of some delicious-looking delicacy. I tried sending a photo to my friend who lives in the area to get some clue.

When I got back to the hotel we had an extensive buffet breakfast that included cheeses (Whitney says that's a hallmark for what I consider a successful buffet breakfast :D), tebouleh, quiche, pickled herring, yogurt, spreadable yogurt cheese, etc etc etc. Tasty.

Because Intel organized this fairly last minute, there wasn't enough space for all of us in one hotel, so I had to transfer to another hotel (did I write this yesterday?), so I packed up my bag and strolled down the esplanade on the warm and very blustery morning. At one point a huge gust of wind caught my hat's visor and suddenly we had a flying Oregon State Beaver. My had soared across two streets for about half a block before tentatively landing next to a sidewalk. I so very patiently trotted to my hat (it's tricky to balance nonchalance with expediency) to the hat, hoping that it wouldn't get airborne again. Fortunately a friendly Tel Avivian hopped off his bike and picked it up for me. +1 for the locals.

Further down the beach, the wind was whipping up waves where folks were swimming. I heard an urgent voice over a loudspeaker. I couldn't understand the words, but could tell that someone was being rebuked. I, along with a few dozen other rubberneckers, looked over to where waves were breaking against a stone pier and saw a head bobbing up and down in the water. First a leathery older speedo'd man ran into the water, then a lifeguard with a great big lifesaver ran in, Baywatch-style, and finally another man on a surfboard with long paddles took off. Fortunately the person was saved and all was well.

A few blocks down I saw a dog park and human park, and I'm all about people-watching, so I paused for a bit. I saw seven or eight folks gathered in the shade of trees, setting up for a function. Someone strummed a guitar while three or four sang and shimmied and shook. They may have been Filipino based on their appearance and that I heard the word "Hay-zoos" a few times in their song. Note: A girl was blowing up balloons. Everyone loves balloons.

I feared that I was overstaying my observation, and that they'd invite me over to have lunch with them, so I kept on walking. A block or so down I took in the Hassan Bek Mosque. Built in 1916, Arab soldiers later used in during the 1948 war, when they used the minaret as firing position.

I continued my walk down toward Old Town Jaffa, which used to be Joppa, said to've been founded by Noah's son Japheth following the Flood.

Along the way I picked up a baguette thing in honor of Whitney (see this).

And then I ran into a carbohydrate heaven! So many breads! I wanted to try a pita bread with some sort of pesto and sesame... but the swarm of customers was teeming.

 They also had sweets! (you can tell where my interests are) Baklava and divinity stuff.... and other Mediterranean-looking things.

 Old Town Jaffa consists of a mosques, churches (one of which nursed Napolean's plague-stricken soliders to health), shops, and residences built on an outcropping...

 ...that provides handsome view of the coastline. One of those buildings on the left is my hotel. The juxtaposition of gleaming new Tel Aviv with old Jaffa was striking.

Unfortunately the museum describing the history of Jaffa was closed for a function, so after a walking break and bit more of people-watching, I started on my way back to my hotel, by way of the Central Bus Station and a street market.

But first I met another Israeli cat!

I heard about the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station in a 99% Invisible podcast episode.  It's worth a listen, but briefly: construction began in the 1960s on this 8-story, 2.5 million square foot gigantor that was to be a city-within-a-city. Unfortunately its planned size outweighed its need, and much of it is used for only illicit purposes in addition to being a transportation hub.

I met two more cats!

 My last stop was the Carmel market. I knew that--it being Shabbat--some of it would be closed. But I wasn't prepared for it to appear post-apocalyptic, with half-eaten pitas and pretzels around. The folks I heard scurrying scurrying around in the rafters (their sleeping places?) really added to the ambiance.

And that was it! I didn't exactly get to do all of the must-dos in Tel Aviv, but I certainly got a feel for the city!