We felt quite relieved to leave Athens after our not very pleasent experience with the local pickpockets. After the most in-depth search of our luggage we’ve ever experienced by the security guys of the Israeli airline El Al (we were quite relieved they didn’t take out the white gloves) and a short flight, we landed at Ben Gurion International Airport, just to find out that the guys delivering the luggage were on strike. I’m sure we know every inch of that arrival hall, we walked the entire length so many times…
We spent almost a week in Tel Aviv, and with every passing day, we fell more in love with the city. We had long discussions about what makes a city awesome, and what requirements it would have to fulfill for us to consider living there (for a while). I’ll start with the pro-arguments, since I’m an optimist and they outnumber the cons.
1. Weather
True, a hot climate is not everybodys cup of tea, and we were told that in July it’s even hotter. But we loved it. Sun everyday, but enough wind to not make it unbearable. People tell us it gets colder in winter, but rarely ever below 10 degrees celcius. Oh – and they’ve got an average of 300 sunny days a year, which is about 280 more than Switzerland has in 2014 (as far as I can tell).
2. Beaches (and outdoor gyms!)
Everybody loves them. They’re cool, and they immediately give that vacation touch to a destination. We have never before seen such a long and clean beach literally 20 meters from the city (ok, in Miami maybe, but my memory is kinda rusty, it’s been over 15 years). Great ocean walk, perfect for morning runs.
And while beaches are great, most people struggle with looking “good enough” for the beach. Well – I guess that’s what they built the dozens of free public gyms for, all along the beach (and throughout the city). Nothing fancy, just a few selected machines, all body weight – but cold drinking water fountains and (actually working) scales with every one. Way cool!
Oh – and for the “I’d rather train my brain than my muscles”-people: They’ve got a free-for-all beach library, in a small cart that seems to move according to some schedule. How about that?
3. Transportation
Not only does Tel Aviv feature a very modern train- and bus system, both of which offer free wifi by the way, they’ve got a bike rental system that’s really really cool. There are probably about 50 stations all over the city, so you’re likely to be close to one wherever you are. You can either pay the basic fee of about CHF 4 per day, or get a year pass for just under CHF 70. The first half hour then is free, with small increasing amounts due for every additional half hour. Since there are so many stations, you’re not likely to ride a bike for more than 30 mins anyway – so there’s no additional cost.
4. Food
The food is nothing short of amazing. It’s not even only the classic Israeli food that’s good, it’s the hundreds of small innovative restaurants and bars that make Tel Aviv a party for your stomach! We’ve seen literally dozens of inspiring places and checked out as many as our conscience would allow (totally killing our daily budget, but it was worth it). One of our favorites was a small hipster place on one of the main roads, called Little Italy. You order from a small but fine selection of sandwich-likes and fingerfood, then grab a basket and a blanket and head for the adjacent park. Classic picnic – check!
5. Economy
Despite it’s difficult political situation, Israel has a booming economy. Especially the start-up sector is booming, with high-tech companies in the lead. Do the research if you’re interested, Google is your friend. The only country that has pulled a development like that off in the last 60 years since it’s foundation (!) is Japan (since it’s destruction in WW2, respectively).
6. People
Friendly people can be met anywhere. But in few places we’ve been confronted with so much friendliness as in Tel Aviv. First thing out of the train station HaShalom, we probably looked a bit confused, a local comes up to us and asks if we need help finding directions. Both Airbnb hosts were ourstandingly helpful and friendly, and when we could not manage to find the bus station to take the bus to Jerusalem on our last day, another local (Isaac) actually walked with us there, in spite of the station not even being close to his way home… add to that the fact that literally everbody speaks fluent English (yes, one lady was upset when I asked if she spoke English…), and you’re bound to feel very welcome.
And the cons? Yes, there are some. 2 (women) or 3 (men) years of mandatory military service around the age of 20 for everyone (except orthodox jews), cost of living increasing faster than salaries, and income taxes to high it would lead to an outright revolution in Switzerland are just a few. Add to that extremely high expenses for the ongoing military “operations”, and the fact that you’re not very much high on the appreciation list of quite many countries in the world, and I can see that not everything is blue sky.
Nevertheless – we’d consider living in Tel Aviv for a while.
Woah – longest blog post ever. But the difference between the country as it is portrayed in international media and the way we actually experienced it (or one of it’s main cities, anyway) struck us as simply astonishing.
What’s your opinion? Comment and let us know!
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