One Friday many weeks ago I attended another field trip offered by my department in Bar Ilan University. This trip was to the Tel Aviv Zoological Research Institute in the northern end of the city, between Tel Aviv University and the Yarkon River. We congregated outside the institute’s gates while our guide, Dr Moshe Natan, secured our entry. Generally closed to the public, the institute does open for select tour groups such as ours.

Lovely menagerie

Inside, we gathered together to hear opening words on the tour and the uniqueness of the institute. Similar in concept to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, the institute focuses on animals local to Israel and engages in both research and sanctuary for wild animals who, for whatever reason, won’t survive if released back to nature. A slight exception to the rule, countless peacocks roam the grounds, the iconic males in constant display to woo the plainer females.

Vain peacock

The layout of the grounds begins as a circle, with a large open area in the centre, complete with a small pond. There we saw in plain view at least a dozen species at any given moment, some wild and some captive, including gulls, geese, swan, storks, flamingos, peacocks and gazelles. We began at an enclosure for Nubian ibex, a mammal that has become quite common in several locations in Israel, including Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev.

Concerned egret chick

From there we moved onto a large tree beside the walkway, host of many nests belonging to herons, egrets and more. We watched the violent feeding methods of the cattle egret, the frazzled-looking young grabbing the parent’s head, forcing it to regurgitate the food. Moving along, we approached a series of cages filled with an assortment of interesting birds, including spoonbills, sand partridges and white-eyed gulls. Cages further along contained owls such as the eagle owl, pharaoh eagle owl and the tiny scops owl.

One-eyed eagle owl

Finished with the birds for the time being, we then set our eyes upon the wolf enclosure where we watched a male and a female race around the grassy area. Directly opposite we found a muddy patch containing several wild boars — huge frightening beasts that strike fear in the hearts of hikers like me.

Baby turtle on a lilypad

Continuing along the path, we found sleeping jungle cats and a small flock of nene geese, endemic to the islands of Hawaii. A small pond, choked with lily pads, provided refuge for dozens of red-eared slider turtles. Next, we came upon the cages of the birds of prey, and my excitement grew. We started with some fine specimens of lesser kestrels and a lanner falcon. Next, a cage with some harriers and another cage with some ravens.

Gathered outside a birdcage

The following cage was occupied with birds of prey of several species: short-toed eagles, long-legged buzzards, black kites and a lone yellow-billed kite (which is very rare in Israel). Neighbouring cages contained eagles and vultures, including the enormous white-tailed eagles (with a maximum wingspan of 240 cm) and Griffon vultures (265 cm).

Yellow-billed kite

From there we visited the porcupine, cormorants and pelicans, and even feigned feeding the herons and egrets in the open area to demonstrate how bold they’ve become. When we had enough entertainment watching the birds of the field we moved towards a small compound on the other side of the central building, where the rodents and reptiles are stored. Alternating between rodent and reptile, we saw many interesting species including golden spiny mice, Arabian horned vipers, the American-native gila monster and my favourite Israeli snake, the black desert cobra.

Golden spiny mouse

We went up and down the rows of cages, peering inside each and every one to spy on the inhabitants. At the tail end, when we were examining a large python and an iguana that reminded me of my days in Miami. Our tour had come to an close, as it was Friday afternoon and Shabbat was approaching. We parted ways, having enjoyed an interesting morning with Dr Moshe Natan at the Tel Aviv Zoological Research Institute.

A video of this trip, which I made for the department’s YouTube channel, can be found HERE.

To finish off my quartet of Tel Avivian blog posts is this two-part trip to two sites lauding past prime ministers. The first one being Rabin Centre, just outside of Tel Aviv University’s train station, which I took the opportunity to visit on my to the Yarkon Park.

The Yitzhak Rabin Centre

Inside the large centre filled with libraries, conference centres and more is a museum dedicated to the life and death of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Starting off with sombre video footage from the night of his assassination, poignantly portrayed in a large dark room, the exhibition then opened up to a chronological timeline of Rabin’s life.

Timeline of Rabin’s life

From childhood to his role in the Palmach, from his appointment of Chief of Staff in 1964 to his inauguration as prime minister in 1974 – the exhibit showed it all. Complete with numerous videos scattered throughout the timeline replaying historical footage, I will admit finding frustration keeping my sensor-triggered headset playing the right audio at the right time. A nice assortment of personal items were on display at increments, including various forms of identification, military paraphernalia and even the blood-stain paper he had in his pocket when he was assassinated, after a rally supporting the Oslo Accords. His living room, left exactly as it was the night of his death, was transferred to the museum, replaying the same soccer match he watched.

Rabin’s living room

After the lengthy timeline there was a whole slew of pictures, both family- and career-oriented. At the very end of the exhibition is a memorial room with electric candles and then a graffiti wall for guests to write on, sharing their sentiments. Looking into the whole matter of Rabin’s assassination, there seems to be quite a large number of irregularities and suspicious moments, particularly in the lone video recording of the event – known as the Kempler Video (see HERE on YouTube). I tend to take both official statements and conspiracy theories with a grain of salt, so I’ll let you be the judge for yourself. Outside the museum I found another exhibition dedicated to Operation Entebbe, the rescue mission of 106 hostages held in the Entebbe Airport in Uganda performed by Israeli commandos in 1976. Showcased are the behind-the-scenes of the top secret operation, formulated in the course of one day, as well as other thematic presentations. What I found most interesting was the short film about the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 and the subsequent rescue operation, as narrated by one of the mission’s commandos – the point man to enter the hostage room. The film is called Cohen on the Bridge: Rescue at Entebbe and the animation style reminded me a lot of a French film called Renaissance, I highly recommend it.

Cohen on the Bridge film

Outside the exhibit, parked on a balcony of sorts, is the black Mercedes Benz used in the operation to mimic a visit by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Not Idi Amin’s Mercedes

When I was done with those two museums, and after looking at a small photographic art gallery upstairs, I was ready to leave. I took some quick photograph of the view of Tel Aviv and the Yarkon Park in the foreground and then made my way to the port area to walk the length of the park.

Tel Aviv skyline

The next day, after completing my exams, I headed over to a kosher branch of Aldo, eager to at last taste one of Israel’s premier ice creams. That particular day was unworldly dusty and turned into a sandstorm that lasted several days, even obscuring Israel from NASA’s satellites. All of the photos from that day have a weird orange-yellow tint to them due to the heavy saturation of sand in the air.

Aldo ice cream

Of the three ice creams that I chose, only the Ferrero Rocher chocolate one impressed me – and just to justifiably complain, my ice cream was heavily melted by the time I paid and sat down to eat it. I then continued walking down Ibn Gabirol and then cut across to Ben Gurion to visit my next site: the Ben Gurion House. Just look at how strange it looked outside in this photo taken on the corner of Ben Gurion and Dizengoff.

Dusty street scene

I arrived at the house sweating profusely (just like everybody else walking about in the orange gloom) and began my tour of the old house which offered both air conditioning and free admission. This humble house was the Tel Aviv residence for Israel’s first prime minister, and it was between here and his desert home in Sde Boker that he divided his time.

Ben Gurion House

Built in 1930 with renovations done in 1946, the house is preserved and filled with original furniture but with decor set as it was in the later years. There was a huge amount of awards, gifts and the like from personages and institutions the world over, as well as a collection of photographs featuring David Ben Gurion and various heads of state. But what impressed me most was his personal library upstairs which boasts an astonishing 20,000 books in eleven languages.

Ben Gurion’s library

I gathered a lot of these facts and numbers from a very helpful docent whose name I forgot, if he in fact gave it to me at all. I found it interesting to see how many Judaica books he owned, and wonder how often he opened them. Finished with the museum I headed back over to Ibn Gabirol to visit a liquor store I had passed earlier and purchased some very interesting craft beers which I haven’t seen anywhere else in Israel (including a Noctus 100 and St Bernardus Abt 12, for those interested in details). With my precious liquid cargo safely double-bagged, I boarded a bus to the Independence Hall area just north of Florentin where I found an interesting Turkish restaurant called Turk Lahmajun to eat late lunch at.

Döner

I enjoyed a very tasty lamb döner in a laffa, very similar to the classic Israeli schwarma, and then took a bus to the train for the long journey home.

After my trip to Tel Aviv a few weeks prior, I had to make the journey once again to complete some exams before applying to university. With the tests in the morning, I had the previous day to travel and sight-see – which I did! Getting off the southbound train at the Tel Aviv University stop I visited the Rabin Centre, but this post isn’t about that. Because this trip was book-ended by visits to historically-oriented places, I am relating my travels slightly out of order. So, after the Rabin Centre I took a meandering bus all the way back to Reading, a bus depot across the Yarkon River from the Tel Aviv Port, up against the Mediterranean Sea. I was embarking on a nice hike from one end of Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park to the other, in Ramat Gan where I was to be spending the night.

Yarkon Park snaking across Tel Aviv

Somewhat comparable to New York City’s Central Park, the Yarkon Park is Tel Aviv’s greenbelt and attracts a healthy amount of both people and wildlife. And so I started walking the trail, passing a rowing club and noticing all sorts of birds all over the place almost immediately. Due to the large number of bird species, and their relative acceptance of human presence, the Yarkon Park has become one of Israel’s best places for birdwatching and bird photography. At any given moment I could turn 360° and see at least five species around me, be them in the air, on the ground or in the water. At first I saw common birds seen all over Israel such as hooded crows and mynas, an invasive species from India, but then I spotted a spur-winged lapwing and a grey heron.

Grey heron wading in the shallows

Moving along, I saw a hoopoe (Israel’s national bird) pecking about in the grass and a whole flock of monk parakeets causing a disturbance on the other side of the path – I got a video of it HERE. I stuck to the trail on the northern side of the river (which is actually part of the Israel National Trail), passing gardens and sports facilities, and, even with the myriad of people and their dogs and/or bicycles, there was still a healthy amount of wildlife mostly undisturbed.

Night heron

Ever-accompanied by the shrieking of the ring-necked parakeets high up in the date and willow trees, I then witnessed something really cool. I spotted a white-throated kingfisher perched on a fence of sorts a ways away (I even had to use digital zoom). Suddenly, he dropped into the grass and came up with something in his beak. I can’t tell what it is but I watched him eat it and he seemed to like it. Throughout the day I merited to see all three of Israel’s kingfishers, each oddly in a different scientific family – the white-throated, pied and common kingfishers.

White-throated kingfisher with prey

One thing that’s photographically cool about the Yarkon Park is the stark contrast between the idyllic riverbanks lined with robust trees and then the ultra urban background with Tel Aviv’s skyscrapers appearing over the treeline.

Yarkon Park

I continued to beat the pavement with my shoes, watching the herons and egrets wading calmly through the murky green shallows while the pied kingfisher hovers ten-twenty feet over the water’s surface, plunging in to catch an unwary fish. To help us humans enjoy the nature in ease and comfort, the park has benches and wooden platforms intermittently along the water’s edge – it’s a rather nice touch. It’s absolutely marvelous having this convenient window into nature’s circle of life, just feast your eyes om this photo of a night heron with its prey:

Night heron with fish (photo: Tamar Ron)

Before long I was passing the fork where the Ayalon stream and Yarkon River meet, the train and vehicular traffic thundering along on the large bridge overhead. I wrote all about the source of the Yarkon River and its initial tributary streams in my post about the Yarkon National Park – the Ayalon is the last of these to join the decantation into the sea. Continuing along the banks of the Yarkon, I then came across a small zoo with axis deer, emu, ostrich and several other birds and mammals. Just around the corner from the zoo and a closed aviary, I found one of Israel’s greatest birdwatching sites: Sheva Tachanot (or Seven Mills). The daylight was beginning to fade, and as it had been a rather overcast day, the poor lighting made photography rather difficult, no matter how hard I tried. Despite all that, I was amazed at just how close one can get to the many types of birds frequenting the old Ottoman flour mill ruins with its pools and lush overgrowth. A talented Tel Avivian photographer by the name of Tamar Ron graciously offered me the use of her photos to properly display the beautiful birds of Seven Mills, of which you see on either ends of this paragraph.

Common kingfisher (photo: Tamar Ron)

As night began to fall I found myself tracking a few jackal cubs that were frolicking not far from the trail. Having migrated from the hills of the Shomron several years ago, jackals are now a permanent fixture of the Yarkon Park – and especially at Seven Mills, where jackals can even be seen during normal daylight hours. As I crept up to the jackal cubs I heard a bone-chilling growl in the bushes mere metres behind me which sent shivers down my spine and adrenaline pumping through my veins. With that untimely distraction, the young jackals made their escape and so I continued on, sadly jackal-less, with my hike of the Yarkon.

Dusk settling over the park

Nightfall shrouded the tall trees and I could occasionally hear or see jackals in the distance as I walked, and shortly thereafter I think I heard the calls of a tree frog. The path kept going and going, often poorly lit with cyclists whizzing by almost dangerously.

Urban Ramat Gan

I passed the Meymadion water park and then the Ramat Gan Stadium before reaching the Maccabiah Bridge. A name born from tragedy, the current bridge’s predecessor had a deadly collapse in 1997 – four Australian athletes were killed and another sixty injured.

Crossing the Maccabiah Bridge at the Ayalon Mall

Thankfully, the bridge took me safely across the Yarkon River where I made a bee-line for the Ayalon Mall. There I had a rather filling falafel and headed to my host’s place in Ramat Gan for a good night’s sleep in preparation for the following day’s exams.

Continuing with my trip the other week to Israel’s coastal metropolis, Tel Aviv, I started my morning off bright and early. I made it to the exams building and did what needed to be done. On the way back to my host’s place, I stopped off at the Krinizi House, a museum on the history of Ramat Gan (a city in the Tel Aviv district).

Krinizi House

Located in the old house of Avraham Krinizi, the first mayor of Ramat Gan, the museum retells the city’s rise from a small satellite town to a booming commercial city. After returning and subsequently saying goodbye to my host I took a bus back into Tel Aviv, getting off on King George street at Metzudat Ze’ev, a large Brutalist-style building also known as Jabotinsky House.

Metzudat Ze’ev

My first visit was to the Etzel Museum where I learned more about the paramilitary organisation’s activities over the years leading up to Israeli independence. One thing that really impressed me were the many detailed models that portrayed in miniature scale how and where the group’s violent activities took place – like the attack on the British headquarters in the King David Hotel in 1946.

Memorial to the fallen Etzel members

After browsing through the two floors of Etzel exhibits and having watched the video, I purchased a cheap book about “the Irgun” (another name for Etzel) and headed upstairs to visit the Jabotinsky Centre.

Ze’ev Jabotinsky sitting in prison

There I was treated to a rather interesting video about the life of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, told over by actors playing Ze’ev and his son, Eri. When I was done looking around l discovered the centre’s archives with an extraordinary amount of filed documents, photographs and more.

Perusing the Jabotinsky Centre archives

Leaving the fancy building I boarded a bus heading for the even fancier Rothschild Boulevard and Independence Hall. My bus dropped me off a few blocks south of Rothschild and so I found myself walking through the streets, with the alternate Bauhaus and modern buildings of steel and glass casting their shadows over me.

Upscale Tel Aviv

I then encountered the Herzlilienblum Museum of banking history on the corner of Herzl and Lilienblum, but unfortunately the museum is only open to groups with an advance reservation. With the guard not yielding to my cajoling, I turned the corner and found Independence Hall, originally known as Dizengoff House. After paying the rather steep entrance fee I watched a short film about the house and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which, when aired on public broadcast to the world, sparked the War for Independence.

Inside Independence Hall

I thought the restored room which hosted the monumental moment was rather nice but that they should lower the cost of visiting – after all, it is a national heritage site and the museum is basically just that room. I walked around the area a bit, sight-seeing, and then headed to a restaurant I had passed a few blocks away for late lunch. After having their burger, which was considerably less interesting than the other more ethic choices in the area, I headed for Allenby street. Somewhat notorious for being rather seedy, at least by Israeli standards, Allenby does have one redeeming site – the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv. Built in the 1920’s and renovated in the 1970’s, the Great Synagogue is a rather impressive building with its large arches and stained glass windows.

Inside Tel Aviv’s Great Synagogue

When it was built, the synagogue was in the centre of old Tel Aviv, but now the surrounding areas have become commercial and the building has lost some of its practical importance. I found the great doors unlocked and was overjoyed to finally step inside for the first time in many unsuccessful visits. I had chanced upon preparations for an important event – the Great Synagogue was celebrating 90 years and, in honour, four new sifrei torah (torah scrolls) were being dedicated. Unfortunately, the event was late in the evening and it would be problematic coinciding with the public transportation I was using to get back home. And so I took my pictures, prayed mincha (evening prayer) and bid the grand synagogue farewell. Continuing down Allenby I popped into the Carmel Shuk in search for the Beer Bazaar, a craft beer place with a great stock.

Carmel Shuk of Tel Aviv

The man behind the counter was pleasantly knowledgeable and helped me pick out six new stouts and porters to try, all Israeli made. After having tasted them all and enjoying them to various degrees, I still prefer my favourite beer, Salara Smoked Stout from Kibbutz Ginegar (which I had the opportunity of visiting the following week). With the beers safely wrapped up I took a bus to the train and the train back to the north, wrapping up my two-day trip to Tel Aviv. But I was to visit again shortly after…

Last week I took a trip down to Tel Aviv to take some morning exams the following day in preparation for university. Leaving Ma’alot in the late morning, I arrived in bustling Tel Aviv by train and immediately headed towards my first destination, the IDF History Museum. Located just outside the newly renovated HaTachana (old train station) with its cafés, restaurants and boutique shops, the IDF museum has been on my map for quite some time. I had visited once before, while in basic training, but didn’t really get the chance to see everything (post HERE).

IDF History Museum

Inside the museum’s confines I started with the rifle and machine gun exhibit, a large collection of firearms from all over the world and spanning hundreds of years. Considering today’s political situation, I found irony in seeing an Israeli-made Uzi sub-machine gun displayed as a weapon used by the Iranian armed forces.

Guns galore!

Next I browsed the captured anti-aircraft guns and the extensive armoured units collection, ranging from American Shermans and Pattons to British Centurions and Soviet T-54s/T-55s all the way to Israel’s first tank, the Merkava I.

Tank pavilion

Next was a large room filled with pistols from the last three hundred years or so and from all over the world, including a few “VIP” pistols owned by various Israeli generals. Moving along, I passed a collection of armoured vehicles and then entered a building dedicated towards the War for Independence in 1948. It was in this room that an elderly woman, a fellow visitor, stopped me and told me a story about a Jewish man who lived in Yafo (Jaffa) in 1947-1948 and was killed by his Arab neighbours when Israeli independence was announced. Leaving that room, I passed artillery guns and entered the exhibits of each of the successive Chiefs of General Staff. My museum visit continued on for another hour or so, giving me time to look at the many exhibitions including this one called the IDF Equipment Centre Pavilion:

“Kitchens are important too”

My visit ended with a look at a number of vehicles that made history including official cars of Defence Ministers and some famous military vehicles. One, a Fargo pickup truck made in the US in 1942 boasted quite a rich history. This particular vehicle was used by three separate armies and had seen battle in four wars – quite the veteran! Leaving the museum at closing time I headed towards the chic neighbourhood of Neve Tzedek, not really sure where to go next as museums were all either closed or closing shortly.

Neve Tzedek street scene

As I walked through the well-kept streets I was surprised to mostly hear English and French being spoken. When I stopped into a Tunisian restaurant, the menu was in Hebrew and French only – no English. It was at this restaurant, Jasmine, that I had a late lunch of (off-menu) shakshuka with a variety of Tunisian salads and some beer.

Tunisian shakshuka

Leaving Neve Tzedek I bused to the Tel Aviv Port to watch the sunset and explore the area for the first time. Crossing the Yarkon River, I walked along the water taking pictures of the various birds hanging about. I saw kingfishers, mynas, a spur-winged lapwing and more, but it was these colourful Egyptian geese that captivated me most:

Egyptian geese preening on the banks of the Yarkon

Unfortunately, the water at the mouth of the Yarkon is heavily polluted by the Reading power plant among other industrial culprits. In the picture below you can see the river and the power plant beside it, with a tiny lighthouse on the left-hand  side. This lighthouse was built in the mid 1930’s by the British and the ruins of two Assyrian fortresses were found at the base of it, known today as Tel Kudadi. The power plant was originally built in the late 1930’s, which made the lighthouse superfluous with its bright lighted chimney, and has been added to over the subsequent decades. Today the plant is only in partial use and the exterior was renovated to recreate its original 1930’s appearance.

Reading power plant

I crossed over the Wauchope bridge, dodging the multitudes of pedestrians, bikers and rollerbladers to take pictures of the beautiful sunset.

Sunset at Tel Aviv Port

Looping around Reading Park as the sun disappeared over the horizon, I then headed back to the Tel Aviv Port area to take in the sights. Surprising packed with visitors and locals alike, I jostled my way along the wooden deck overlooking the crashing waves as I paused here and there to take pictures. I then stumbled upon a concert waiting to start, but even when I left an hour or so later, the singer Avraham Tal had yet to show his presence.

Carousel at dusk

I passed a wedding and an older couple who, upon seeing me with a camera hanging from my neck, asked me to take their picture. I dodged salty waves, saltier waiters (I jest) and the ever-present mob of people as I walked all the way down to the northernmost Tel Aviv beach and then back up to the Yarkon river where I found the buses and headed over to Ramat Gan to stay the night.

Tel Aviv Port at night

The next day proved to be just as adventurous, chock-full of museum visits…

Thursday night, after the hike to Montfort Castle, I headed on down to Tel Aviv to partake in the annual “White Night” celebration. Held every year for the past nine years, “White Night” was established to commemorate the UNESCO decision to include Tel Aviv (“the White City”) as a World Heritage Site. Adding a play on words, “white night” is also an Israeli term for staying up all night long, which is dutifully carried out by both the residents of Tel Aviv and from people the world over joining in on the celebration. Traveling in uniform for the free public transportation, I arrived in Tel Aviv’s Arlozorov Station just after 8pm. I boarded a bus for Yafo (Jaffa) and got off just after the clock tower, a city landmark.

White Night

Entering the flea market area, I was immediately enveloped in the merry-making atmosphere. The streets were alive with music, lights and happy people. I stopped to watch the various street performers and small-time musicians as they entertained the people. Since I was in uniform and had an SLR camera hanging from my neck, many assumed I was a military photographer – always good when you want to get in close for a shot. I experimented plenty with the camera, trying to get the best photos in each setting, but without a manual shutter, nighttime photography is hard!

Musicians on the street

Rhythmic drumming

Mime

As I circled and criss-crossed the flea market I caught a glimpse of what looked to be a fireball hovering in the inky sky (there happened to be a great moon out as well). Later I discovered a little crowd watching a few people hold up a hot air balloon-like object. A bag of sorts, shaped like a heart, with a nice fire going on at the bottom – like a hot air balloon. Someone said something about how we should have peace and the heart balloon was released. Here it is, as it took flight:

Fire in the sky

Not wanting to miss all the evening’s concerts, I abandoned the flea market celebrations and was handed a new energy drink – great time to have promotional freebies! I made my way to Gan HaPisga (Park of the Peak, I suppose would be the best translation). There I caught the tail-end of a performance by The Bridgettes. I have never heard of them – they hail from France, nor was I really interested in their music but it was fun trying to photograph the show.

The Bridgettes

As the concert came to a close, and no more performances were to follow – why did they start so early?! – I headed into the Old City area of Yafo for some photos.

Jaffa Old City

Jerusalem Gate, Jaffa Old City

Eventually I found myself at Jaffa Port, a popular hangout. There I was treated to more musicians and mimes and even found a place to change my clothes. No longer in uniform, I popped into a bar that looked very much alive, The Container. There I ordered the new Goldstar Unfiltered beer and headed back out to continue my explorations. For a nighttime hangout, Jaffa Port is quite nice – I particularly enjoyed the fishy smell of the nets from the day’s fishing.

Inside The Container

With so many people eating, I was dismayed to only find two places with kosher food. One place basically only served hummus so I chose the other, an interesting little joint seemingly family operated. There I ordered a simple falafel and sat down to eat my midnight snack. As I sat there, Israel’s seven Harley Davidson motorcycles drove by, followed by a police car whose driver must have been deaf. After my little meal I took to the boardwalk and experimented with the different camera settings, capturing Tel Aviv in various lights:

Tel Aviv 1

Tel Aviv 2

Continuing on along the boardwalk, I left Yafo and entered Tel Aviv proper. At first the boardwalk was filled with people of all ages but as I headed further and further north, the “old people” disappeared and I found myself in a vast sea of youth. Walking around in little clusters, thousands upon thousands of teens were crowding the boardwalk, calling out to one another like an immense flock of birds. The sheer quantity of young people – like I’ve never seen before – and the watchful presence of police officers were good signs of an adventure. Convinced that there must be some sort of White Night event nearby, I stopped and asked a loitering American what was going on. He was equally clueless but was eager to find the White Night events I was seeking so we paired up and hit the boardwalk, eventually heading to Rabin Square. Along the way I found out that this young man, Dan, was also from Seattle (where I was born) and that he just finished his Birthright trip. All we ended up finding on the boardwalk was some odd dance event so we headed into the city for Rabin Square. When we got there it felt like the aftermath of a storm. People milling about aimlessly, garbage strewn all over the place, event crews dismantling skeletal structures – all sure signs that we missed the party.

Post-apocalyptic Rabin Square

What we did in fact miss was something called a headphone concert (or something like that). Basically everybody with a smartphone can get a particular app and join in on the concert via headphones or earbuds. Sounds kinda odd but I’m sure it’s pretty funny watching a couple hundred people, standing together enjoying a concert with no music in the air, like something out of The Twilight Zone. Having missed the party at Rabin Square, Dan and I decided to loop back to the boardwalk, but via Dizengoff and Rothschild. We stopped off at a little pub for a little rest and I enjoyed a pint of Guinness – stouts are the best! But we never made it to the boardwalk. On some random street we bumped into some random Israelis and had a long chat. Turns out one of the events I thought could be found on the boardwalk was actually not even in Tel Aviv. Eventually 3:00 turned into 4:00 and then the sun came up. With the streets in a post-apocalyptic state, empty except for garbage and overly tired people trying to make their way home, we decided to call quits on our adventure. With my uniform back on I caught a really early bus and then an early train and was back home pretty tired and somewhat disappointed at how White Night ended.

Daybreak at a random street corner

Moral of the story: unless you want to wander around Tel Aviv aimlessly all night, I suggest that if you want to enjoy White Night, wrap it up shortly after midnight because after that it’s pretty dead. The end.

Continuing on with my museum spree, following the trips to the Diaspora Museum and the Palmach Museum, my next stop was the Eretz Israel Museum of Tel Aviv (not to be confused with the Israel Museum in Jerusalem – which happened to have been visited by Barack Obama and entourage on the very day I was at the Tel Aviv museums). The largest of the three museums, the Eretz Israel Museum showcases numerous different exhibitions, each somewhat related to the Holy Land. This was the first museum that charged me an entrance fee, but I was still impressed by how far I’d gone without spending money. In I went, to explore the numerous attractions. Having seen so much, and having so many great photographs to share, I’ll just breeze through the multitude of museum pieces.

The new coming out of the old – Tel Qasile ruins and the towers of Tel Aviv

First on the path I chose was the Planetarium. There was a chain blocking the entrance so I gave a holler. A man came out and told me it was closed, and not to worry because it was geared towards children anyway. I shrugged and continued on my way, finding a recreated olive press next. Coming from the home of the olive oil, the Galilee, olive presses – new and old – are not a foreign sight.

Olive press machine

After passing a flour mill, powered by a mini-aqueduct, and a fancy building exhibiting large amounts of beautiful Judaica (officially known as the Ethnography and Folklore exhibition), I approached the dusty Tel Qasile ruins. An archaeological site on the Yarkon River, the ruins are said to be the remains of a Philistine port city. While I was trying to capture that snazzy shot up above, a giant insect caught my attention. It was a locust, a straggler from the huge swarm that invaded the country a few weeks ago. I was surprised at the size of it, and whilst attempting to photograph the behemoth, lost him to the wind.

Tel Qasile excavations

After the ruins, I headed over to a exhibition called “Man and His Work”, presenting the tools and trades of mankind throughout the ages. Outside, a manifestation of human livelihood was arranged as if it were a marketplace. Rows of niches, each containing a different trade, displayed the many industries found in the olden days.

Workshops of man

Entering into a building called the The Rothschild Center, I found several collections and mini-museums. The first was befitting for the building, an exhibit by the name of “The Land of the Baron”, following the life of Baron Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild. Instrumental in the eventual restoration of the Holy Land, the Baron was avidly interested in buying land and starting settlements. One of these is the picturesque Rosh Pina; and here is the original property plan:

Plans for Rosh Pina

I had written about the Baron some months back when I covered an army trip I took to Ramat HaNadiv, where the Baron was finally laid to rest. Here is a photograph from that memorable day in April 1954:

Laying the Rothschild couple to rest at Ramat HaNadiv

After the immersion into the Rothschild family history and the mark they left on the Holy Land, I found an interesting photograph staring down at me from a wall – a photograph by Ethiopian-born Benny Vodo (or Woodoo):

Benny Vodo photograph

In theme with the photograph, there was a large temporary exhibit called “Ethiopia, A Land of Wonders”. Within the walls I found a history colourful and rejoicing, the story of a people who returned to their roots. I have several Ethiopian friends and I must say, their stories can be quite interesting. Here is a photograph of an Ethiopian Jewish family finally arriving to the Holy Land:

Ethiopian olim coming off the plane

On to the next couple of exhibitions, the Valero Bank and the history of currency was quite interesting. The first Jewish bank to open in recent times in the Holy Land, the Valero Bank was founded by Jakob Valero in 1848, just inside the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. A family comparably, in a smaller scale, to the Rothschilds, the Valeros held power and authority in their environs and the bank thrived. Dealing with currency, here are two interesting pieces:

Turkish coin die, 1900s

Tyrian shekels from the Ussfiyeh hoard

What came next was an exhibition that caused me great joy – The Alexander Museum of Postal History & Philately. I used to collect stamps when I was a kid, a collection less dear than my coin trove, but yet this tasteful, modern-looking revelation of the Israeli Postal Service (something most people don’t think twice about) could spark interest in anyone. One gem is the eyebrow-raising requirements for the position of postman in the Turkish Empire: one must be “a hero – tall and broad of shoulder – his weapon slung in his belt, and a steel rod in his hand, sow[ing] fear wherever he went…”. Another is a post office box which explicitly states that there shall be no mail headed for Kiryat Chaim (I cannot fathom the reason why Kiryat Chaim cannot get mail). And here, an early-age “Doar Yisrael” mail-truck, with yours truly, posing for the friendly guard who offered to take my photo:

The old postal truck and I

And then, to finish off, a selection of wonderful old photographs, coming from two collections. First, a coloured photo from the “Images from the Land of the Bible”:

Camel caravans crossin the Yarkon River estuary, 1933

And now, some amazing photographs from the talented Zvi Oron-Orushkes, who upon being honourably discharged from the British military, was appointed by High Commissioner John Chancellor in 1929 to be the official photographer for the British government in Mandate Palestine. Despite being Jewish, and being involved in Zionism, Zvi was able to photograph from all sides of the diplomatic die, capturing a little bit of everything. Here are three of my favourite photographs from the collection (which opened the day I visited the museum):

A drippy day

A zeppelin above the King Daviv Hotel, Jerusalem, 1929

Draining the swamps of Yagur, 1930s

Well, that just about covers it, if really briefly. Again, the Eretz Israel Museum is so vast, with such a large assortment of exhibitions and collections, as well as the permanent buildings and Tel Qasile ruins, that one blog post would just run on and on and on. So, let this be a wrap. More trips, and more posts, coming soon!