On Friday, I took a walking tour with the Bauhaus Center. It was quite interesting, learning not just about the Bauhaus architecture here in Tel Aviv, but also how the style of housing reflected the socialist politics of middle 20th century Israel. Really enjoyed the walk, despite the very large group that showed up for the tour. I took plenty of photos – but frankly I’m feeling to lazy to edit them, so this post will consist solely of my blathering.
After the walk, I stopped for a pita sandwich around the corner from my apartment recommended by my host. Oh, man – it was delicious. Cauliflower grilled and then mixed up with tomato, cucumber and tahini. I’ll def be back to try again.
Wandered south to Old Jaffa and the flea market. Oy. It was kinda cool to check out, given the old, ramshackle feel of this oldest part of the city – but total tourist trap with throngs of camera-wielding foreigners (self included, obv). Lovely views of the city and the sea from atop the hill though. Also home of the world’s most well-hidden and unhelpful visitor’s center… And OH MY GOD it was hot.
Walked home along the sea for a bit and popped into HaTachana – “The Station” – and old train depot converted into shops and restaurants. It was very nice, but didn’t stay long – I’m not much of a shopper.
Dinner at Mizlala – the place I’d failed to locate on Thursday – and it was delicious. More to come on the details in a future post – though I will say I didn’t really appreciate getting the Mary-Ann-Singleton seat at the counter – to keep me isolated from the norms I guess – despite the place being only 1/4 full. Yes, it got a bit busier, but the three seats to my left never got filled. Oh well – the trials of traveling alone…
I did visit some gay bars – kinda fun, though it starts WAY too late for me. Stopped at Evita which was populated almost entirely by tourists, then Shpagat which was kinda meh – though again, it may have been due to it being so early, i.e. only midnight.
The bar scene is kinda hard to figure out. I’d passed a place on Rothschild in the afternoon that was packed with guys, rainbow flags flying. When I walked past again at 7PM, it was empty. And on the way out at 1130, it was packed with straight 20-somethings. Most of the bars don’t even open until 9PM, but no one shows up before 11PM apparently. So, I suspect last night was my one and only trip to mingle with the gays – it’s way past my bedtime! But we’ll see…
Today was spent quietly, since I slept in rather late. Had some lunch, then just hung out chez moi, read and watched a movie – I know, I’m the worst! But after seven ten days of being on the move, I really needed a bit of downtime.
Headed to dinner shortly – got a couple of places on my list, so we’ll see how my luck goes getting a table.
It's a Complete Outrage 