California Israel
July 1, 2007
California Israel!
Once you get past the numerous girls in customs asking questions who oddly try to convince you that you dont want to be here and even suggesting that my friend who invited me over wouldn't want to see me.... it is easy to see how misunderstood Israel really is. Tel Aviv is just like any other western city.
In the daylight, you can truly see why some Israeli's call Tel Aviv, California Israel due to the spectacular beaches and promenades. I loved my time there so much that I kept popping back every now and then, even kept a hostel bed booked in my favourite hostel, Momo's.
At night, Tel Aviv takes on a completely new form. The bars open, the beaches come to life again and the supermarkets suddenly fill up with dozens of people looking to get cheap bottles of Goldstar and returning them later to get money off your next! The proper nightlife only really starts to get going towards 2 a.
m. and some bars keep going until after the sun comes up.
It's also an experience to be able to drink along the streets, not to sound like an absolute hobo or anything but drinking on the streets is strictly illegal in Ireland so this was sort of a liberating experience. If you go into a bar order your drinks but then realise the atmosphere is crap you can simply carry your drink to the next bar.
One of my best experiences was sitting in the sea at sunset with a group of new found friends from Arizona drinking back bottle after bottle of Goldstar!
I met my first person from TravBuddy here, Ephrat (ekodsi), a lovely girl over from New York. She had been many times before so she new some cool spots and had a great night out.
It was cool meeting up with her, almost like meeting a friend from home seeing as knew a bit about each other already. That experience is one of the reasons why I really like this site and hope to meet many more from this site someday.
In Tel Aviv you have the old town of Jaffa within walking distance, a cool market, big shopping centres, nice parks, among other things. For me, I found walking aimlessly around to be by far the most rewarding, simply seeing as I never thought I would be in Israel.
Sitting on the beach in Tel Aviv as your first experiences in Israel is a great way to reassure yourself that all your friends, family and newsreaders have been greatly greatly misinformed about this beautiful country.
California Israel!
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Cheap Hostel Good Location
I enjoyed my stay at Momo's. The rooms are fairly basic although if you are used to staying in dorms it will be nothing new. They have lockers in the room which is always a plus. Rooms come equiped with a roof fan and some have balconies.
The staff were all nice and seemed to know me even before I met them which was a bit odd but then again seeing as Momo's Bar can sometimes be full of excitement especially with the two-for-one whiskey specials they were doing.
I stayed there several times during my stay in Israel and they always kept me the same bed. It was cheap enough, in fact at one stage I was paying for my bed here and also one in Jerusalem.
The best thing about this hostel is that it is right where you want to be staying. It is less than a 2 minute walk to the beach, beside a supermarket, across from a good internet shop and at the end of the main drinking area in Allenby and as I say near all the bars along the beach and of course the local Irish Bar, Mollys were much of my time was spent
The staff were all nice and seemed to know me even before I met them which was a bit odd but then again seeing as Momo's Bar can sometimes be full of excitement especially with the two-for-one whiskey specials they were doing.
I stayed there several times during my stay in Israel and they always kept me the same bed. It was cheap enough, in fact at one stage I was paying for my bed here and also one in Jerusalem.
The best thing about this hostel is that it is right where you want to be staying. It is less than a 2 minute walk to the beach, beside a supermarket, across from a good internet shop and at the end of the main drinking area in Allenby and as I say near all the bars along the beach and of course the local Irish Bar, Mollys were much of my time was spent
