 |
| A line well fitting to Shimshon's place "love yourself, love others" |
 |
| Shimshon in his kitchen |
 |
| Creative and elaborate graffiti covering the walls of Tel Aviv |
 |
| Cooking shakshuka at Dr.Shakshuka |
 |
| Ottoman fountain in old Jaffa |
 |
| A lunch-spot serving mainly to workers |
 |
| Our last dinner was at a Georgian restaurant-bar called Nanushka |
We left the hotel in the morning in search of a cozy breakfast spot.
Walking through the Yemenite Quarter close by to our hotel, which is the oldest
neighborhood of Tel Aviv that was originally founded by the Jewish immigrants
from Yemen and today is occupied mainly by the low and mid-income families, we
came upon a small restaurant called Milkyway that fit our criteria. Owner of
the restaurant Shimshon prepares all the dishes himself for the workers that
frequent the place for lunch. Shimshon, with a big grin on his face, points to
the pictures of cows hanging on the wall and explains us that he only serves
vegetarian dishes out of love for those animals. His friend, who seemed to be
in his 60s just as Shimson did, was also helping him out without tiring himself
out too much. Obviously he wasn’t there to work but rather to have a good time
with the joints they were smoking constantly. The place looked like the last
surviving hangout of the flower children with Shimshon’s pictures from his
travels to India, Cuba and other places decorating the walls, customers going
into the kitchen comfortably to dish themselves up with some food, and everyone
including the customers and the owner puffing on their joints. As hard as it
was to farewell with Shimshon, we finally did and started exploring the city.
Our first stop was the Carmel Market and the artisans fair that is set up twice
a week as part of it. We were very impressed by the creativity and artistry of
the Israeli craftmen at the bazaar where many elegant pieces of jewellery and
other objects of interesting design were being sold. From there we walked
through the Neve Tzedek neighborhood with its rustic houses and fancy shops, and
later made our way once again to old Jaffa to see it in daylight this time. We
first checked out Dr.Shakshuka, famous for its (yes, you guessed it right)
shakshuka dishes which is prepared by mixing tomatoes, eggs and other
ingredients of choice. Since it was something familiar to us we opted for other
dishes on the menu such as couscous with vegetables and another dish with
squash, beans and meat. We left the place well satisfied with the food. After
wandering through streets filled with boutique furniture and clothing stores
and art galleries we walked into one that had very interesting drawings. We met
with the artist, who was a Frenchman living in Tel Aviv for the last 7 years.
He had been to Turkey many times and had recently returned from his last trip
to Turkey in the very same plane as the one that brought us there. The picture
of a famous Turkish movie star of the 70’s on one side of his business card
surprised us in a funny way. We got caught in a very heavy rain when we left
the gallery to go back to our hotel. We took shelter at a bench that was
covered with a canopy of densely grown ivy and enjoyed the view of Tel Aviv
with its white sandy beaches and buildings all lit up illimunating the night
sky. Tel Aviv is a pleasant city and one I could see myself living in with the
beach resort feel it gives being situated right on the Mediterranean, its modern
buildings, neighborhoods of different character, and secular, cosmopolitan
residents. Due to the immigration of Jews from all different parts of the world,
it’s possible to find people of all kinds of physical appearances in Tel Aviv.
Thanks to this diversity we were mistaken as Israeli and were fronted with
questions in Hebrew many times during our stay. Another nice and interesting surprise
was almost everyday running into Israelis speaking either a few words or
sometimes fluently in Turkish, because of the high number of Jews immigrating
from Turkey and settling there.
We had a few hours to spend before heading over to the airport on our last
day. Even though we had planned on visiting the Diaspora Museum, both Benoit
and I had set our minds and hearts on visiting Shimshon again and spending the
last hours by enjoying his fun company.
Realizing what we had in mind Aysun was nice enough to comply with it,
so once again we got beamed to the Milkyway galaxy. After a long breakfast,
numerous treats and a pleasant chat about politics, music, and traveling we
said our farewells for one last time to Shimshon. Before leaving for airport we
bought ourselves some of the cardamom flavored coffee that is widely consumed
in Israel, a few music CDs recommended by Shimshon, and a few bottles of the
Israeli wine that highly satisfied us every time. Even though most of the wine
we tasted in Israel were mass produced, common market products, they were higher
in quality and much better tasting compared to the ones in the same price
category in Turkey. Just the thought of
trying some of the finer boutique production wines fills me with joy and
excitement. My call to the millions who are reading this blog: import these
wine to Turkey, you will earn both the money and many blessings!!
Rather than its geological, archaeological or architectural beauties, the
trip to Israel and Palestine was enlightening and educative with its cultural
diversity, conflicts and contradictions. It was productive in both experiencing
the current situation in person to get a better idea, and also questioning and
reflecting on my own thoughts and beliefs through these witnessings. You start wondering
how a government can be so cruel and fascistic when its people are so helpful
and friendly; how people can go on with their daily life with joy when such a
tragedy is taking place next door; how people can inflict such suffering on
others when they themselves were subject to it just a few decades ago. Then
suddenly it all seems awefully familiar to you, and you fall silent, and think…
No comments:
Post a Comment