By Avigayil Kadesh
If you ascend to the Azrieli Observatory on the 49th floor of Israel's tallest building, you will clearly see many of the features that helped Tel Aviv to capture third place on the Lonely Planet travel guide's list of the world's top 10 cities for 2011.
Most obvious, of course, are its eight miles (13 kilometers) of attractive Mediterranean beaches - the reason behind Tel Aviv's designation in July as one of National Geographic Magazine's top 10 beach cities.
(Photo: Israel Ministry of Tourism)
You will also notice the more than 5,000 Bauhaus-style buildings whose white, off-white and pale yellow hues led to Tel Aviv's nickname as the "White City." These stark cubic structures, many recently renovated, earned Tel Aviv a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site designation in 2003, because there are more of them here than anywhere else in the world.
But you'd have to come down from the tower and experience Tel Aviv's vibrant culture to understand why The Lonely Planet describes the metropolis as "a truly diverse 21st-century Mediterranean hub," "a modern Sin City on the sea," and "the greenhouse for Israel's growing art, film and music scenes."
Pluralism at its best
Founded in 1909 under the Ottoman Empire, Tel Aviv ("Spring Hill/Mound") was the region's first modern municipality, planned as an outgrowth of the neighboring ancient port city of Jaffa. With about 400,000 residents, it is now the second-largest city in Israel, after Jerusalem.
While it is said that Israel's spiritual heart beats in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv boasts its cultural and business center. Though it has its share of traditional Jewish aspects, the coastal city is storied for its overwhelmingly secular, multiethnic and fashion-forward lifestyle.
"It's the combination of everything; it exemplifies pluralism in its best sense," says Pini Shani, head of the Overseas Department in Marketing Administration for Israel's Tourism Ministry. "From one end, Tel Aviv is a place where Reform or Orthodox Jews can practice Judaism as they want to, and from the other end, it's a place where gays and lesbians can openly live their way of life," he says.
"Friday night you can party at a club or you can do kabbalat Shabbat [the liturgical prayers welcoming the Sabbath] on the beach and nobody thinks it's weird. This is a city that gives everyone a chance to take part in its culture, religion, nightlife, fine dining, and even the architecture itself."
Once the city's main seaport, the port in Tel Aviv is now a hub for restaurants, cafes, shops
and nightclubs.
Fly to TA for a "City Break"
A Geocartography Group survey of 25,500 of Israel's 2.7 million tourists in 2009 found that 55 percent of them had visited Tel Aviv with its 48 hotels. The Tourism Ministry is beginning to promote Tel Aviv as a unique destination rather than just one stop on an Israeli tour. The long-range aim is to transform it into a "global city" by enhancing all aspects of its infrastructure from transportation and education to municipal services and tourism.
"Culture is a big draw," says Shani. "Tel Aviv is working to create more events that appeal to the international community, such as the Tel Aviv Marathon [a record 11,000 runners participated this year] and the reopening of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art at the end of 2011."
This gala will celebrate the unveiling of a 215,278-square-foot (20,000-square-meter) addition designed by American architect Preston Scott Cohen. More than 500,000 people annually visit the museum's contemporary Israeli and international exhibitions, housed in part of the vast Golda Meir Cultural and Art Center that also includes the Israeli Opera and the Cameri Theater.
The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Association for Tourism and the Tel Aviv Hotel Association are increasingly marketing Tel Aviv as a weekend "City Break," enticing British, French, Russian and German tourists to sample the city's restaurants, nightlife, parks, or gay/lesbian scene. This initiative is supported by travel agencies such as the Anglo-German Thomas Cook, which last year offered an inaugural City Break Tel Aviv package.
Cheaper and faster flights from major European cities to Ben-Gurion International Airport, just outside Tel Aviv, will be central to the practical success of this effort. However, the buzz is already palpable. "The reaction to Tel Aviv around the world is very positive," says Shani.
Overflowing with festivals
Etty Gargir of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Association for Tourism points out the 24/7 nature of the city: "Tel Aviv has 300 days of sun, and it is truly the city that never sleeps," she says.
Nightlife being one of its fortés, Tel Aviv is a frequent stop on the concert tours of world entertainers. In the coming months alone, local venues will host the modern dance troupe Pilobolus, the Gershwin opera Porgy & Bess, Grammy nominee Tiempro Libre, and contemporary artists such as Shaggy, Linkin Park, Joe Bonamassa, and José Carreras. Tel Aviv is also home base for Israel's Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hardly a month goes by without some sort of festival in the city or its environs. The season begins in January with the Classical Music Festival. The Tel Aviv Fashion Market, a showcase for the city's top designers, takes place each winter and summer. The city's splashy Purim Carnival is held in February or March, while sailing, diving, and sea sport enthusiasts flock to the international MarineSport exhibition every April.
In May and June, film buffs can choose among Tel Aviv's International Documentary Film Festival (Docaviv), the International LGBT Film Festival, or the International Student Film Festival. During the White Night Festival that heralds the start of summer, cultural and commercial institutions are open to the public all night long for special events.
White Night at Bialik Street (Israel Ministry of Tourism)
The Jaffa Port is the setting for the International Ethnic Food Fair each June. During "Night Flea," Jaffa's popular flea market stays open throughout the night on August weekends for special events and exhibitions. In October, the International Exhibition of Wine and Spirits takes place at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Center, while November brings the International Guitar Festival to town.
Dates for your diary
15-18 February 2011: Tel Aviv Jazz Festival - an annual highlight on the jazz cultural calendar, this festival will take place for the 22nd consecutive year at the Tel Aviv Cinemateque with some of the leading names in Israeli and international jazz performing in about twenty original concerts.
8 April 2011: Annual TLV RUN TLV, the Tel Aviv marathon that takes you through the White city of Tel Aviv, with its beaches, parks and Bauhaus architecture. Choose between four races: the 10% race (4.2 km); the Urban race (10km); the half marathon (21.1 km) and the full marathon (42.2 km). The start-line and finish is the Charles Clore park on the shore, with the full marathon beginning at 06:30, followed by several start times for the other races.
20-21 May 2011: Open House Tel Aviv-Jaffa is an annual event in which tourists and locals are invited to visit the interiors of private residences, buildings and landmarks of architectural and historical significance - free of charge.
10 June 2011: Tel Aviv's raucous, fun-filled Gay Pride Parade, an endless weekend of parades and parties where tourists and locals enjoy Tel Aviv's relaxed and open lifestyle, all-night bars, cafes and clubs and the Mediterranean beaches.
30 June 2011: White Night, another annual all-night event that brings tens of thousands into Tel Aviv’s streets. The White Night celebrations commemorate the July 2003 UNESCO designation of the White City of Tel Aviv, with its exceptional collection of Bauhaus architecture, as a World Heritage site and the city’s well-deserved reputation as the city that never sleeps. Tens of cultural events, concerts, street theater, free night-time entry to museums and art galleries, special restaurant deals and much more - details to be announced.
14 July 2011: The annual Opera in the Park will feature the Israel Opera chorus and soloists from Israel and overseas in Mozart's Magic Flute, conducted by David Stern. An enchanting evening of fine music under the stars in the heart of Tel Aviv's Ganei Yehoshua (Hayarkon Park) - and all for free!
8-10 September 2011: Loving Art. Making Art. The opening of the city's art exhibition season, with all the city's 75 museums and art galleries open, free of charge, into the night, with many special exhibitions. Events also take place outdoors, along the city’s boulevards and in the parks.
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Twelve things to do in Tel Aviv
In addition to more than 25 museums and galleries in Tel Aviv proper - and scores more in nearby suburbs and towns - here are a dozen highlights for Tel Aviv visitors to sample:
1. The Azrieli Observatory serves as a major vantage point and also offers a 3-D film and audio guide describing major Tel Aviv landmarks, as well as a gift shop, gourmet restaurant and art exhibitions.
2. Tel Aviv Port, built in the 1930s and site of the first landing by immigrants to the new state, ceased functioning as a port in 1965. Today it is lined with dance clubs, cafés and restaurants, and trendy shops.
3. Neve Tzedek (Oasis of Justice), now a stylish neighborhood for young professionals, was established 22 years before the city itself. It is full of turn-of-the-century houses including that of Nobel Prize-winning author and poet S.Y. Agnon. Neve Tzedek is also home to the Suzanne Dellal Center, which hosts the most dance events and festivals in Israel including Summer Dance, Dance-Europa and Curtain Up.
4. Nahlat Binyamin Pedestrian Mall comes alive with an arts and crafts fair on Tuesdays and Fridays featuring the works of about 220 artists chosen by a public committee. The mall is adjacent to Carmel Market, Israel's largest open produce market.
5. Rothschild Boulevard, known as The Boulevard of Bauhaus Dreams, is where you'll find a large number of Tel Aviv's architectural gems in the International style. This is one stop along the annual Houses from Within route, a free public tour of the city's historical buildings, private homes, designer lofts and gardens.
Illuminated Bauhaus buildings on Rothschild Street (Israel Ministry of Tourism)
6. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art predates the State of Israel and is one of the largest museums in the country. It showcases Israeli art, European paintings, photography, design, and architecture.
7. Sheinkin Street is the hub of the fashionable central Sheinkin neighborhood and is home to Bauhaus buildings, designer shops, pubs, cafés, juice bars and leafy boulevards.
8. Among the 186 miles of shark-free beaches on the coast of Tel Aviv, all popular with surfers, windsurfers, and body boarders, the most well-known are the two Hilton beaches near the hotel of the same name, the Maravi Beach, and the Dolphinarium Beach, also known as the "drummers' beach" for the drummers, freestyle dancers, and jugglers who gather there on Friday afternoons.
9. Dining in Tel Aviv is world-class and multi-ethnic, encompassing everything from falafel stands to Chinese, Italian, seafood, Jewish, Arab, North African, Persian and haute cuisine.
10. The Promenade (Hatayelet) seaside boardwalk offers access to beaches and is a hot spot for bikers (there are rental stands available), joggers, musicians and sea-gazers.
11. Hayarkon Park on the Yarkon River is Tel Aviv's equivalent of New York's Central Park or London's Covent Garden. In its 875 green acres you'll find one of the world's largest rock gardens, a tropical garden and petting zoo, skateboard ramps, rollerblade courts, a climbing wall, as well as bike and boat rentals.
12. On the outskirts of the city is Ayalon Park, a vast, environmentally conscious urban parkland built partially on what used to be central Israel's largest landfill. At its 75-acre recycling plant, people can watch as household and industrial waste are transformed into electricity, clean irrigation and washing water and agricultural fertilizer. |