On Saturday, October 31st, we visited the old part of Tel Aviv: Jaffa,
an old Arabic harbour and trading town that now belongs to Tel Aviv. From the Jaffa hill, one also has a nice
view of the coastline of Tel Aviv. You
can find mosques with minarets, a synagogue and churches in this part
of town - and a lot of tourists. Indeed it is a beautiful district and
quite a contrast to modern Tel Aviv. In Jaffa, we walked through paths
of old stones, from the main square on a hill down to the lively harbour
where we watched the sunset.
Directly after sunset, we were surprised by a sudden, very loud sound: from the mosque! The imam was starting his prayer, amplified by loudspeakers on the outer part of the minaret.
Later in the evening in a different neighbourhood, we had a delicious dinner in a restaurant located directly opposite of the entrance of a large synagogue. The place was full of young people and we were lucky to get the last free table. We ate eggplants and eggs in a spicy tomato sauce and green Jericho beans.
Afterwards, we walked along the elegant Rothschild boulevard towards the concert hall. There I listened to an overwhelmingly beautiful concert by my former class mate Igor Levit from Hannover who is now a world-renowned pianist, the designated conductor of the Berlin Philhamornics, Kirill Petrenko, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Inside the concert hall, it nearly felt like being in Europe.
Meanwhile, Matthias was walking around, taking pictures and by chance ended up at the square in front of the town hall with a crowd of people and music. Then Bill Clinton spoke. It was in honour of Yitzhak Rabin who had been killed exactly at that place 20 years ago by a Jewish extremist after Rabin had signed the Oslo Accords for peace with the Palestinians.
Directly after sunset, we were surprised by a sudden, very loud sound: from the mosque! The imam was starting his prayer, amplified by loudspeakers on the outer part of the minaret.
Later in the evening in a different neighbourhood, we had a delicious dinner in a restaurant located directly opposite of the entrance of a large synagogue. The place was full of young people and we were lucky to get the last free table. We ate eggplants and eggs in a spicy tomato sauce and green Jericho beans.
Afterwards, we walked along the elegant Rothschild boulevard towards the concert hall. There I listened to an overwhelmingly beautiful concert by my former class mate Igor Levit from Hannover who is now a world-renowned pianist, the designated conductor of the Berlin Philhamornics, Kirill Petrenko, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Inside the concert hall, it nearly felt like being in Europe.
Meanwhile, Matthias was walking around, taking pictures and by chance ended up at the square in front of the town hall with a crowd of people and music. Then Bill Clinton spoke. It was in honour of Yitzhak Rabin who had been killed exactly at that place 20 years ago by a Jewish extremist after Rabin had signed the Oslo Accords for peace with the Palestinians.
Before Jaffa was Arabic, it was actually Egyptian, then Israelite, then Persian, then Phoenician, then Roman, then Persian again. :)
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