Walking route in Tel Aviv. Daily walk in Tel Aviv
I don’t really like Israeli cities - they are too pro-automobile, boring and simply ugly. This is basically a disease of new cities, but here every city is new with the exception of ancient settlements. But with Tel Aviv the situation is different - this is the case when people complement the environment so much that every visit among the same type of houses you find something new for yourself. Plus, in recent years, the city has made great progress in matters of cycling, and the municipality has set the task of making Tel Aviv a world-class city - many public spaces are appearing, a tram is being built, data is being opened, and so on. In general, let's go for a walk;)
In some places, Tel Aviv is very similar to Russia - frankly scary houses with mutilated facades and the kingdom of the car: 
The only thing is that there is no dirt and parking is still legal and paid: 
The appearance of the houses is not particularly looked after. Although communications, air conditioning units and wires somehow enliven the bare wall: 
An ordinary street with typical houses - almost all the houses in the city are like this. But absolutely: 
The construction of Israel came during the Bauhaus era, and after that the style of function over form remained - we can say that in the country it has historically developed to build simply and without details. On the right is the old house, and on the left is the new one - the continuity is clearly visible, despite the difference of decades: 
Is it possible that the facades are better looked after and the details are nicer: 
An ordinary house with a standard entrance - simple and a lot of greenery: 
Here the residents decided to arrange parking at the entrance, just like somewhere in Tver or Tashkent: 
Reconstruction of a house with addition of floors: 
The general situation in the city is saved by landscaping - trees cover houses: 
On the main streets, the eye rarely rises above the first floor - businesses with shop windows and street cafes attract the eye, so no attention remains on the shape of the houses: 
The streets are very lively and pleasant due to the density, compactness and mixed nature of the city. Business creates the diversity of environment that is usually provided by the architecture of houses. That rare case when some design code is more likely to harm the city. 
There is no such valuable historical heritage in the city. If you do not take into account, then the city has only a small quarter of colonial buildings from the beginning of the last century. Recently, reconstruction was carried out here and a shopping and entertainment area was created. There is already a design code and heritage protection, although the interiors and contents are modern: 
No car zone inside: 
Even food delivery people leave mopeds outside: 
The quarter is located in the business and transport center of the city, surrounded by skyscrapers, and here is a corner of tranquility and history: 
The contrast is amazing. That moment when such a combination is not a bug, but a feature: 
Between the houses there are public areas with water and fish. Don't forget that this is still a desert! 
An interesting solution with a swamp: 
Local beach. How can you go to some Adler or Crimea after this? 
The business is built very neatly and does not block the sea - there is a public space on top, and shops and cafes below: 
In general, in Israel there is a problem with playgrounds - they try to make them colorful and without thinking about the development of children, directly. Here is also the first design from the advertising catalog, but at least the color is normal: 
While walking, you don’t even think that you are in a country that is constantly at war. But the signs to the bomb shelter bring us back to reality: 
And then a policeman on a bicycle passes by you and somehow you again forget about the external danger: 
Tel Aviv is currently experiencing a cycling boom. Thanks to cheaper batteries and the growth of cities without motorization control, the bicycle has become a cheap and fast alternative for traveling around the city. There is nothing new or surprising in this, but there is a point that many people forget about - human contact. When people are traveling on a crowded bus, they want to close themselves off from others, when in a car there is literally a barrier between people. A bicycle allows you to normalize relations between residents and establish a willingness to contact others. In other words, a bicycle is a good solution for socializing people. 
The big minus of this whole story is that people drive on the sidewalks. If you think that in St. Petersburg or Moscow there is a problem with cyclists among pedestrians, then no - we are far from Israel. Bicycles with motors can easily travel 20-30 km/h, and every second person here has electric bikes. 
With each visit, there are more and more bicycle paths in the city, but mostly they are just part of the sidewalk with markings: 
Both pedestrians and cyclists suffer from such infrastructure. They are still afraid to make bicycle paths at the expense of the roadway: 
Except that sometimes they take away parking for bike rentals: 
In general, the city streets are safe - cars are not driven due to the correct design and narrowness. Additionally, in recent years, 30 km/h zones with bicycle priority have been introduced: 
It is urgent to send all Russian officials and designers to teach how to make safe streets in Israel. I'm completely serious now. 
And an accessible environment. 
The main thing is not to look at the cycling infrastructure. For example, there is a bike lane without a buffer zone and with a break at intersections. I wonder how many cyclists fly away due to unexpected door openings or get caught in the blind spot of drivers: 
But the sidewalks are so narrow that there are no other options. That’s why people on scooters, electric skateboards and bicycles ride along the roadway: 
An interesting solution with a bicycle path on the embankment - the surface is specially made in relief to calm bicycle traffic and so that people with strollers do not walk along it. 
What all bicycle infrastructure projects have in common is the breaking of paths and lanes at intersections. That is, along the street a person on a bicycle has his own place, but before the intersection everything stops: either ride with pedestrians or with cars. 
It turns out to be a turmoil - it is unclear where and how to go. 
Familiar to many. The only local plus is that they work. For a whole day every week, public transport throughout the country stops running, except for minibuses. A good motivation to buy a car, although the reasons are lobbied by the religious community. 
Today, only buses operate in the city, which get stuck in traffic jams every day. Thanks to the country's automobile development and the low level of public transport development. 
Building roads and stimulating car purchases gives rapid economic growth, but this is quantitative, not qualitative growth. After the leap, all this begins to slow down development. 
Relatively recently, railways appeared in the country - at least some opportunity to travel without traffic jams throughout the country and along Tel Aviv. Construction is still ongoing - they should soon connect Jerusalem with the whole country and electrify the tracks. By the way, the Moscow Metrostroy took part in the construction. Details. 
Now in Tel Aviv. In the center he will go underground, but for his sake they have already done it. 
Car sharing has also appeared in the city. The service operates on a subscription basis - you need to pay monthly for the right to access. You can leave your car in special and general permitted parking. In general, it is not very clear why they made separate spaces - apparently paid parking does not cope with its task or the discounts are too large for residents. 
In general, an interesting city! 
Yesterday we made a forced march through Tel Aviv. We managed to see and feel so much that I don’t even know how to talk about it all. Each place we visited deserves its own article, if nothing more.
We started our journey from the market on Levinsky Street
The first stop was the famous burekas Penso. In my opinion, there is no point in writing about this place. Just a little general information - it has been around for about 80 years, the fourth generation of Penso has been feeding all of old Tel Aviv with baked goods since then, when there was no trace of Israel. The best burekas in the country without any options, although I come to them not because of them, but because of my favorite apple strudel, which they also have homemade, so to speak.
I think it’s also worth noting the important fact that a huge burekas and a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice cost us 22 shekels - by today’s standards and prices, this is not just cheap, but generally unique.
More about several famous shops on the shuk - for example, Boutique Naknik) Pastrami sandwiches, in size and quality reminiscent of the Reuben on Yehuda HaLevi.
No less famous than Penso, Baklava Nazareth is one of the few places in Tel Aviv where you can buy authentic Arabic sweets such as baklava (baklava?) and knafeh. By the way, it is kosher and seems to even supply its products to the respected Israeli Defense Forces, known in friendly circles as the IDF.
Unfortunately (and we can talk about this endlessly - about what is happening in South Tel Aviv) the market looks abandoned. Most of the houses in it are, if not on the verge of destruction, then it is definitely impossible to look at them without pain.
Although some houses are still being restored.
As I said at the beginning, we could write a book about every place we visited (I think we have). The shuk is still full of everything - the Turkish restaurant Niso (Levinsky 47), Maadaniat Yom Tov (famous for its salted fish and anchovies), the Pereg shop, which has been selling seasonings since 1922 (the oldest place in the market) and so on. Go and explore for yourself - you won't regret it. And we will go further to the Nachum Gutman Museum.
Previously, by the way, this was a writers' house. It was home to Yosef Chaim Brener (before he was killed by the Arabs) Yosef Aharonovich and his wife - one of the most famous Israeli writers of the Baron Court.
Talking about the Guttman Museum also doesn’t make much sense. I’m ashamed to admit that this was my first time there. Still didn’t get around to it.
Self-portrait of the young Guttman from the Tel Aviv Museum.
Now to the museum itself - I like this picture - how a guy pulls the devil out of a well). And this is the artist’s father, the famous writer and man Simcha Ben-Zion.
Simkha was one of the first Hebrew teachers in Odessa. He taught at the same school with Bialik and Ravnitsky. Nachum, by the way, painted this trinity more than once.
After the pogroms in Chisinau in 1905, Ben-Zion left for Israel. He organized a kind of “writers’ forum” in his house, in which the already mentioned Brener, Yehuda Burla, Alexander Ziskind-Rabinovich (AZAR) and many others took part. He also published a magazine in which he published the story of Shmil Chachkes for the first time on Israeli soil. It was the famous short story "Agunot", from which Chachkes took his pseudonym - Shai Agnon. To date, he is the only Israeli winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Concurrently, he is one of the best writers of the 20th century, on the level of Joyce, Kafka and Faulkner.
(Photo is also mine, from the Agnon Museum in Jerusalem). There are rumors that Chachkes's pseudonym was given to him by one of the founders of Tel Aviv, Shimon Rokah, after he read Agunot. We went to the house of Shimon Rokach after the Gutman Museum.
The Rokach family is so famous that you don’t even know where to start) The street in Neve Tzedek, on which the house is located, was named after Shimon Rokach. A boulevard in Tel Aviv is named after his son Israel Rokach, a minister in Ben-Gurion's government. The house itself is also famous for the very original sculptures of Shimon Rokach's granddaughter, Leah Majaro-Mintz.
In the Rokach house there is also an original dining table, at which - as in - all the streets of Tel Aviv sat)
If you don’t pay attention to the prohibitory signs, you can go up to the third floor (where it seems that the artist and sculptor herself lives), and, if you ask politely, admire the view of the sea and the red roofs of Neve Tzedek from the balcony.
You can also admire the skyscrapers under construction, but in this case it is less interesting.
On Saturday morning we went to the center of the country. First we went to Ramat Gan to watch the equestrian competitions. And then we walked through the old quarters of Tel Aviv, touched the sea, looked at the old railway station and, of course, had a great snack a couple of times. Overall we had a really great day! :)
We parked very well on Rothschild Boulevard not far from Levin’s house (Rothschild Boulevard, 46). The building in the form of a Tuscan villa was built by the famous architect I. Magidovich in 1924 for the American merchant Jacob Levin, a native of Kaunas. Levin died in 1934, after which the building changed occupants many times - an English school, military and judicial institutions were located within its walls. From 1948 to 1953 it housed the residence of the Soviet diplomatic mission.
Having been to equestrian competitions
before this, having wandered in Leumi Park in Ramat Gan
we were very hungry and therefore the first thing we did on advice finferli
went to Tony Vespa's pizzeria http://www.tonyvespa.co.il/
How delicious and varied the pizza is... it’s rare to get such pleasure from food :)
Pizza is sold by weight (98 NIS/kg). The entire tray is a little over 1kg. But you can take a little bit of different things, eat them with mushrooms, and with different cheeses, and with olives, and with tomatoes, and with sausage, and with bacon, and with... a lot more. I highly recommend stopping by and trying at least a small piece.
They have several branches. We were on the corner of 118 Allenby Street and 32 Rothschild Boulevard. The pizzeria is located in the former building of the Ben Nahum Hotel. Please note that the facades facing the main boulevard of Rothschild and st. Allenby, have different solutions, each of which corresponded to the context of the surrounding development. They are united by a staircase tower, completed with a dome on columns in an oriental style.
Having eaten our fill of pizza, we went for a walk through the old quarters of Tel Aviv
and reached the sea
take a look at Jaffa
envied the people swimming :)
Congratulations on Victory Day!
Taking a farewell glance at the sea, we set off on our way back
On the way we stopped at the train station
did very little sports
We returned to Rothschild Boulevard and walked around the fountain :)
At the beginning of the boulevard there is a monument to the first mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir Dizengoff.
Mikhail Yakovlevich Dizengoff was born on February 25, 1861 in Bessarabia. Since 1905 he lived in Eretz Israel and was one of the founders of Tel Aviv. He supported the idea of creating a Jewish state. Died September 23, 1936. Buried at Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
And we moved again on the advice
I really liked it! Interesting in the right way. Empe. It turned out that only my friend and I signed up. We got a private guide and a very pleasant walk, plus we learned a lot! Thank you!
I really liked the daily tour of Tel Aviv on Fri 27.9! The guide Elena, a highly professional person who loves her land of Israel, was able to convey the difficulties of creating the city of Tel Aviv, spoke about its creators and the features of that time, about the significant people of Tel Aviv today. The guide is not only knowledgeable, but also intelligent, just like in the good old days. :) I was pleasantly surprised, thank you!
We were a family, 2 adults, 2 children, the youngest was 3 years old, we felt very comfortable - they waited for the children, when they periodically trudged along the excursion a little more slowly. the group was small, besides us there were 3 more people. The guide is very interesting, she tells such amazing details that you cannot read in a guidebook. very sensitive, constantly asks if everyone is comfortable, offers to sit on a bench while she talks. it was so interesting that instead of the stated 2 hours we walked for 3 (again, the guide asked if everyone was comfortable and if not comfortable, she suggested shortening the route, but since no one was tired, even the children, and everyone had time, we, on the contrary, increased the route and learned a lot of new and interesting things), we are delighted, thank you!!
It so happened that the excursion was given to me personally - the group did not gather. The excursion was wonderful and very informative. The guide clearly loves his city and country and you are imbued with this love. They showed me historical places, referring to facts from the past and drawing on the present. Due to the fact that we were both in no hurry, I was able to listen and become involved in the history of Tel Aviv for not 2 hours, but even a little more. The guide addresses you as “you”, does not ask any personal questions, is ready for dialogue and requests or wishes, and is very polite and friendly. I recommend visiting Tel Aviv and thank you for the excursion. In addition, Israel has a very developed tipping system and should always be left to such specialists.
The excursion is great! Elena is a wonderful guide! It is clear that the person loves and knows his business. We were worried that it would be difficult to walk in the heat, but everything was more than acceptable. We recommend the excursion - an interesting and educational pastime!
As for the organization, I would like it to be more clear when booking which route the excursion will take on a particular day, and the name of the meeting point in English would not hurt, since we had problems indicating it when calling a taxi.
I really enjoyed the walk. Intelligent guide who knows the topic well. He didn’t load him with dry details, but gave information vividly and emotionally. It's nice to listen to a person who truly loves his job.
Thank you!
We continued our acquaintance with Tel Aviv along the blue route in the company of Ekaterina. We fell in love with Tel Aviv completely and irrevocably. Thank you so much for your professionalism and emotions.
The guide was distracted all the time and corresponded on the phone. She told everything as if she was being tortured... and forced to speak. Everything is crumpled up quickly and without mood.
Hello!
I want to highlight two points in your review:
1) quality of presentation of the material... We have known the guide who worked with you on the route for a very long time... we know her as a great specialist and connoisseur. She has an excellent command of the material and knows how to present it well... It’s difficult for me to say what exactly was wrong on your particular excursion... but knowing our guide, I’m inclined to view this as an accident rather than the norm... regarding the fact that everything is crumpled and quickly - format the excursion offers a quick introduction to the city in 2 hours... Only 2 hours, which fly by catastrophically quickly... If you delve into the topics of the excursion in detail, then, unfortunately, the scope of the sightseeing tour is simply not enough. When we were preparing these routes, our task was to select from a huge layer the necessary minimum that would help tourists get an impression of the city. Perhaps the sightseeing tour format is not suitable for you and you should pay attention to more thematic excursions.
2) regarding correspondence by phone... I agree with you that this is unacceptable. However, I will try to explain what happened. There were supposed to be other tourists on your excursion, but they got lost. And instead of writing directly to the office, they harassed the guide. And a situation arose that the office did not know about, but the guide decided to help the tourists. Every tourist is important to us, and we do not abandon them at a difficult moment. However, I agree that this is not correct in relation to those who were on the excursion... and it could have been done differently in this situation.
We would like to offer you our apologies. It’s really a shame if our guests leave us with negative emotions. I sincerely hope that this was the only moment of your holiday in Israel and it did not spoil the impression of visiting Israel.
I walked around Jaffa (nowhere, including in the voucher, is it specified that we are talking specifically about Jaffa).
These walks - a day in Jaffa, a day in Tel Aviv, and a meeting at the border of the cities.
The next day, I walked around Tel Aviv without an appointment and learned a lot of interesting information.
I recommend to everyone!
