Tel Aviv Israel – A Surprising Beach Town.

During our Middle East trek Lindsay and I were lucky enough to spend 1 night in Tel Aviv, Israel. Neither of us were that familiar with this city as we had mostly focused on Jerusalem during our planning. However, we were both very impressed with the light hearted beach town feel of this large city. The first time we arrived in Tel Aviv we came into a very small airport and immediately caught a bus to Jerusalem (no time to explore). During this particular bus ride there was an Israeli soldier siting right behind me and his gun was pointed at the back of my chair the entire time (not on purpose). Lindsay was sitting across from me and got a kick out of how cluesly I was to the fact that there was a semi automatic gun pointed at my back…I am glad the bus didn’t hit a bump in the road. :) After exploring Jerusalem for a few days we made our way back to Tel Aviv by bus. We meet a very nice kid on the bus who was extremely anxious to tell us all about his city. After arriving at the huge central bus station in Tel Aviv We caught a cab and before we knew it we were chilling in our funky little art deco hotel right on the beach. Our small room even had a balcony that gave us a small view of the beach/ocean. When we arrived at the hotel it was late afternoon and we immediately put on our swimsuits and hit the beach. We were both blown away by how cool the beach scene in Tel Aviv is. It feels like a mix between the French Riviera and Miami but yet you are right in the middle of the Middle East. It was so strange to see all the Jewish men and women in swimsuits an all of the Muslim women in full burka clothing from head to toe all enjoying the beach. Needless to say it was an interesting mix of people. There is one main Blvd that hugs the beach and there are very pricey and fancy hotels/condos that line the entire street. We walked up this Blvd for hours eventually making our way all the way down to Joppa (the ancient city on the far end of Tel Aviv beach). We then walked back along the beach just as the sun was getting low. We stopped and swam for about an hour and then chilled on a rock wall to watch the sunset. It was such a great feeling to be chillin in Tel Aviv watching the sun go down over the beautiful Mediterranean ocean. We laughed, talked and simply hung out for quite a while in that same spot just trying to take in the scene. After the sun was down we continue to wander along the main Blvd and found some incredible street food. We loved it so much we went back for seconds and thirds (each time running across the street to get the food and then returning to our little bench to eat it). It was a simple evening in Tel Aviv but Lindsay and I were extremely charmed by this big city with a beach town feel.






View towards the beach from our funky little hotel room!