November 19th, 2019
Today, Eytan made us breakfast and took us to Tel Aviv so we could explore the city and the beaches for the day. We had perfect weather and started in the old part of the town Jaffa. It was a cute historic area with narrow streets, many galleries, some restaurants and cafes and lots of history. You would walk by signs that would say something like “this is where the Apostle Peter did this…” and it was hard to believe we were walking somewhere right out of biblical times.
After Jaffa, we spent time on the beach hanging out. The weather was warm but not too hot, and the Mediterranean coastline was really beautiful. This was the first time either of us had been to the Mediterranean.
It does get dark really early here this time of year (sunset is around 4:40pm) so we ended up walking and watching the sunset from another nice beach in the city.
After it was dark we went to a big city market called Carmel Market. There were tons of food vendors and sweet treats. We had some great falafel (actually it was the best we ever had) and continued walking around the city. We eventually made it back to Ra’anana where Eytan lives.
The official language in Israel is Hebrew but fortunate for us, just about everyone speaks really good English. Most signs are also written in English and Arabic. The currency is the Israeli New Shekel and the current exchange rate is 3.46 to 1 USD. We have found Israel to be the most expensive place we have traveled. It feels a lot like being back in the United States in some ways. The food is very good and the people are super friendly and helpful toward tourists. Everyone is not trying to sell you something or hustle you, which is a really nice change from so many other countries we have been in. We found out that we are actually visiting at a very interesting time in Israel as their prime minister just got indicted, and we have been told some things are mirroring what is going on in U.S. politics. It is kind of crazy.