It’s been a while… I know… We’ve been on lots of trips lately and have even more ahead! In the meantime, we worked a lot as well and took care of the little one of course! So we didn’t have too much time but I plan to make it up to you soon! On Friday we’re leaving for Thailand and as long as the Internet connection and Maks allow me, I’ll try to take you on this trip, too.
This year’s autumn is sponsored by letter “T”, as before Thailand we also went to medieval Tallinn and to Tel Aviv, which was hot and full of busy restaurants.
We decided to fly to Israel for a weekend in order to warm up a little in these cold autumn days. Why not? The tickets were cheap and the only disadvantage was the flight hours: 10.50 pm – 3.45 am and 6 am – 9 am. What makes it even worse is the fact, that you have to be at the airport 3 hours prior to the flight!
night panorama of Tel Avivu seen from Jaffa
We landed in Tel Aviv at 3.45 am local time (an hour later then at home) and what can I say… it didn’t start well. Even though we asked for no stamps in our passports, we got some and now we’re going to have some serious trouble with entering Arabic countries. We also waited for ages for the car and our suitcase got “lost” and even though we were told “it must have been left in Warsaw”, Łukasz found it in front of the toilet, quite far from the baggage claim belt. That’s quite weird for a country that cares so much about security, don’t you think?. Moreover, there was lots of other lonely suitcases lying around…
The hotel or apartments to be more specific, wasn’t anything special either (and had a really awful bathroom). But it had sea view and the promenade was very close.
Feeling really tired after the trip, we slept until 2 pm and then left for a combination of breakfast and lunch. We went to Jaffa, Tel Aviv’s Old Town, but stopped on our way to check out a place called Manta Ray…
We got a delicious meze with great fresh bread with olive oil, salt and rosemary.. a dream.. also aubergines, fish and fried goat’s cheese…
a perfect starter after travelling at night
For the main course we ordered sea food, which was Manta Ray’s specialty…
delicious seafood pot
We went sightseeing in Jaffa’s Old Town, walked around the city and went for some trips during the next days…
It was a bit too short to see everything and taste all the local specialties. One connoisseur told me later that the falafel booths loved by locals are really a must… Unfortunately our little one was extremely picky this time and we had to choose restaurants according to his taste. The good thing is I’ll give you some ideas for a family trip, too 🙂
murals in Tel-Aviv
For the first trip we went to Haifa, north of Tel-Aviv. The city is situated on the cliff of Mount Carmel, near a national park. We started with the city centre, went to see the Bahá’í World Centre, a beautiful yet a bit deserted place…
Baha’i World Centre
We walked along one of the main streets (Ben Gurion of course), passed a well preserved German Colony from 19th century and ate lunch in a rather kids-friendly restaurant called The Garden (Ben Gurion Ave 43). There was a small playground and meals for kids, which our little one didn’t like after all..
We, on the other hand, were quite satisfied…
aubergine and pine nuts
a giant calamari on a stick
One thing that stunned me was the amount of parsley in Lebanese tabbouleh. It almost shocked me…
too green…
We left Haifa and wlaked around a small town called Akka. We saw the Old Town, the harbour and visited the local bazaar…
the Old Town seen from the harbour
a council?
sweets
and spices…
In the evening we took a walk along a seaside promenade in Tel Aviv, walked around the lively Boulevards and found a great restaurant called Goocha (http://www.rest.co.il/_intros/gocha/), but I’ll get to that in a minute! 🙂
On Sunday we went to see Jerusalem.. it was colourful, with a big marketplace, Muslims and Jews – many faces of one city. Unfortunately we didn’t have too much time but we managed to feel the vibe of El Bazaar, see Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulchre and of course the Western Wall which, however didn’t impress Maksymilian 😉
“why are they all moaning?”
What we liked the most in Jerusalem was the diversity of people there…
“orthodox” kids
strength lies within a family
something for everybody
The views were also quite amazing…
Jerusalem – the key spot
acolourful bazaar and a magenta cauliflower:)
We returned to Goocha in the evening. It’s an extremely popular place in Dizengoff street, which is full of cafes, restaurants and little food joints. It specialises in seafood and fish. It serves fantastic mussels in various versions, delicious baked fish with a potato puree and sun dried tomato, capers and olives salsa, and a crab soup – the only meal fully accepted by our little connoisseur.
We chose Belgian waffles for dessert, served in banana-almond or chocolate-nut style. They were better than in Belgium. I mean it. That memory still makes my mouth water.
heaven
The trip back home was really difficult: wake up at 2 am, get to the airport at 3 am, fly at 6 am. We were brave (especially Maks). I hope he stays like that! You know what they say: what the youth learns…
as you can see in the picture :)))
Have a nice day… And remeber that rainy weather is the best excuse to have something sweet for dessert 😉 And yesterday, thanks to my friend, I discovered a perfect place for such afternoons. I’ll write about it tomorrow! 🙂
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