A rainy weekend in Tel Aviv

           The weekend before last, the forecast called for rain, even though my Israeli coworkers keep saying that you can’t necessarily trust the weather forecast because their prediction tools aren’t as accurate as in the United States, especially because Israel is so small and they don’t get much accurate information about weather from their neighbors.  However,  in the summer, be sure to check and believe the forecast (it will always call for sun and heat and be accurate).  So instead of heading down to the Dead Sea where we’d be at risk of getting caught in flash floods, Isa suggested I stay home and spend some time in Tel Aviv and a little messaging with friends back home helped me set plans for the weekend (thank you, Shira!). 

            Thus, when Friday morning rolled around, and I finally stopped snoozing my alarms (okay, so that was a little bit of a struggle after I walked all over Tel Aviv on Thursday night), and I finally got motivated enough to go out, I headed to the train station.  It was a windy day, with some sand in the air.  But I’ve seen windier in Tel Aviv.  I caught the train to Tel Aviv HaHaganah station, pondered renting a bike from the shared bike station but decided it was too windy and I needed all my attention focused on the directions and opted to walk. 

        

            Finally, I arrived at my destination, the HaCarmel Market.  The first time I walked through it, I just took everything in.  I found the candy that all my American friends seem to think is the highlight of the market (yes, all the gummies; I’m not arguing with their consensus though.  I thoroughly enjoyed every ounce of candy I purchased). 

            Once I had taken everything in and snapped the necessary photographs to document the experience (I mean reading is always better with pictures, right?  Especially if they make you hungry enough to hop a flight over here to share the experience!), I got down to business. 

            I invested in a potato, a carrot, a cucumber (yep, the small ones!), definitely some of those gummies, a giant soft pretzel (which basically tastes like an Israeli bagel, except it’s twisted), some bananas and dried fruit, and some Turkish delight (which I had actually never tasted before and had no idea what to expect in terms of what it looked likeà I had only ever heard of it from Chronicles of Narnia… It’s good depending on the flavor)!

I tried the tiny samples of halva they give out in the marketplace (to the right of the Turkish delight in the left middle picture of the collage; I think it’s a combination of sugar, glucose or honey and tahini, but it has varying types and flavors) and it’s not terrible but I still can’t imagine eating a big slice like a piece of cake.  That seems kind of gross, but who knows, maybe I’ll give it a shot while I’m here. 

If you look at the bottom left of the collage, that’s Baklava.  I was surprised that that was a thing here; I haven’t tried it yet but I really need to, because I love Baklava. 

On the right, you see spices, cheeses and dried fruits and nuts.  Basically, if you like food of any type, you’ll have a field day at any shuk in Israel. 

On Friday mornings everyone is stocking up for Shabbat, because most people have a family dinner on Friday night, and even if they don’t, so much is closed on Saturday (although this is more evident in Jerusalem as you will hear later). 

When I had fulfilled my heart’s content of food shopping, I headed out of the market and wandered until I had hit the beach.  Being a windy day, sand was blowing everywhere and the waves were dousing the sand all the way up the beach.  I stood there for a while, toyed around on the outdoor “gym” and watched the kitesurfers.  There were tons of them having a ball out there. 

Afterwards, I headed up to the Dizengoff Center, a mall that has a food fair every Thursday night and Friday morning.  I had gone the night before, but never managed to find the food fair.  This time, I persevered, until I had found the dozens of stalls that offered pre-prepared food for Shabbat.  I picked up some chicken, rice and broccoli and was about to leave before I spotted the Tabouli Salad (best decision I ever made). 

Then I caught the train back to Herzliya with an hour or so to spare before trains quit for the next 24 hours (steep taxi cost I’m striving not to incur, although not at the level of Boston/NYC taxis; if I ever find out, I'll let you know how affordable it turns out to be). 

Finally at home, I curled up on my couch beside my space heater with a bowl of Tabouli Salad, a pretzel and Turkish Delight and Netflix (it has arrived in Israel!  More on that later), just in time for the rain and Shabbat to begin.