What Makes Tel Aviv One of Israel’s Most Exciting Cities?

What's going on everybody? This is Island Hopper TV coming to you from Tel Aviv, Israel. Let's do it. We are on the bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. The bus costs around five dollars and takes one hour and that's about 15 shekels. Tel Aviv has actually been rated the most expensive city in the world but there are some ways to get cheap accommodations such as this capsule hotel we found right here which just so happens to be right there on the beach. And tonight we've decided to stay at the O pod here in Tel Aviv right on the beach. It's 75 dollars a night for a room for a capsule. For the price you can't really beat the location and I actually found these capsules to be quite comfortable. I would do it all over again. So for 75 dollars a night you get this great location but do keep in mind you have to share the shower and the bathrooms with other people. This was my first time sleeping in a capsule hotel. I've seen them in Japan and I've seen them at Istanbul airport so I was very interested to see just what it was all about and I found it to be worth the value especially in Tel Aviv. And since we're staying right here on the beach let's go check it out and see what's going on down here. And if you look behind me we're at Jaffa Beach. We're going to go to the marina cross this bridge here and then go into Jaffa town. If you watched our Jerusalem video you remember we started at Jaffa gate. That means that the Jerusalem gate faced towards Jaffa in this direction. That's where the road would take you and this is an old town. You could almost call it old Tel Aviv but in reality it's southwest of Tel Aviv. If you look at the name Tel Aviv Yaffo you'll notice that on the map. Well that's because they're talking about Tel Aviv and Jaffa. This old port city is known as South Tel Aviv with old narrow streets and courtyards and eclectic markets and it's also one of Israel's mixed cities with 37 percent of the population being Arab. So right here is the old clock tower erected by one of the last sultans in the Ottoman Empire in 1903. That's right the Ottoman Empire occupied the area known as Israel from 1517 until 1917. And what we're going to do now is walk around the old town and show you what it looks like. Also take you to the market and give you a feel of what the old city would have looked like and feels like today. We were here in early September and the temperature outside was around 85 degrees with a Mediterranean type climate. So yes there was some humidity. It is recommended to visit Tel Aviv from March to April or September through November. That's when they say is the best weather. And I will say this Tel Aviv reminds me very much of San Diego, California. And Tel Aviv's metro population is 4.3 million people. And here we are at the old Jaffa flea market. Inside this flea market you'll find some jewelry, you'll also find textiles and other antiques from the area. And after exploring around the market area we decided to head towards the port and the waterfront area. Check out the suspended orange tree right here. Yeah that's right it's a suspended orange tree meaning that it's not in the ground. The pot is actually hanging by two cords on each side that hold it up and that was definitely a first. But you can see walking through Jaffa here very interesting because it's got these old cobblestone roads and old rock structures. Nowadays Jaffa is definitely a place where artists like to hang out and gain inspiration from the past. The old port city of Jaffa has an interesting history because it was mentioned by the ancient Egyptians in as early as 1440 BCE. So it is very old. Also some biblical stories including Jonah, Solomon and Saint Peter. And because of its proximity in the Mediterranean and its ability to get around with trade routes here in Jaffa, this port city, you would have had a great deal of influence from all over Arabia, North Africa and Southern Europe. And right here they have traditional Yemeni art. This here is the Ben Zion David Yemeni art gallery where they show you how to make stringed silver jewelry. And a little bit more history here in 1740 the first Jewish hostel in Jaffa was established here which included a synagogue in a mikveh which is a bath. The synagogue reopened in 1948 by Libyan Jews and is still in use. And you can see just cruising the old Jaffa quarter here how cool the pathways are. And here we are on the waterfront now walking around the area with a boardwalk where the old port used to be. So much history going on in this old port of Jaffa. All right after hanging out in Jaffa now it's time to head up the coast here and check out what's going on in North Tel Aviv. All right we got here so we're gonna give it a try and see what's up with the app see how far we can get going on one of these. Yeah we needed a little bit of assistance walking around the waterfront from north to south takes some time so getting some public transportation in the means of a scooter works perfect. They have several different apps that you can download before arrival. Bird tier is the one that we used and Tel Aviv actually has a separate lane for bikes and these motor scooters as well as another lane for pedestrian foot traffic only. And when it comes to the beach Tel Aviv had more beaches than I could even count. It's hard to really say which beach is the best but depending on who you would ask you might hear Hilton Beach, Jerusalem Beach, you also have Banana Beach. But people down here they do surfing, play pickleball, hang out on day beds under the umbrellas. So a really good beach town right here in Tel Aviv. All right so we put the scooter back and now we're just going to walk up and down this beach here headed towards the Hilton and the old port of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a subtropical semi-tropical climate. Right now the weather outside is around 85 degrees Fahrenheit, around 29 degrees Celsius. It doesn't snow here in Tel Aviv but if you go up towards Jerusalem during December and January you may get some snow. But down here on the beach very mild Mediterranean type climate. Let me clarify something. All of this country is called Israel but inside of Israel is an autonomous zone known as Palestine. Before 1948 this used to be called Palestine and ever since then it's been called Israel. So there's this idea that what are we going to call it between two different types of people but right now it is called Israel. And right out here by the Hilton Bay Hilton Beach area you've got some surfing going on today. Yeah that really surprised me. I didn't expect to see so much surfing out here in Tel Aviv but again this is why I'm reminded of San Diego when I came to Tel Aviv. So much surfing culture. We are at the old port of Tel Aviv. We're just going to walk around see what's going on down here. They say it's a touristy kind of area. This was my first time to Tel Aviv so of course I'm going to do some of the tourist stuff. And as you would imagine I did work up quite the appetite so we're going to stop and get some falafel and my favorite refreshing drink lemonade and mint with ice. When you get here I highly recommend you get one of these green cards. This is the transportation pass. 50 shekels goes a long way with one of these. Getting on the bus. Yeah the public transportation system in Tel Aviv is very efficient. They have buses, they have trams, they also have those scooters that I showed you, bicycles, and they have taxis. Now on the subject of rideshare they say that Uber works but every time I tried to use the Uber app it was trying to tell me to hire a taxi through the app. So there is some questionability about whether or not you can use Uber in Tel Aviv so I just stuck to the taxi cabs. But I would say definitely be ready to do some walking when you hit up Tel Aviv. Also keep in mind this is a very fit city. You wake up at seven o'clock in the morning and you are on the coastline you will see people running, jogging, doing all sorts of aerobics and exercise in the mornings and at sunset. Like I said a very fit city just like San Diego. So obviously we're down here on the Tel Aviv waterfront here. If you guys wanted to see this whole waterfront you got to really consider getting a bike or one of those bird scooters, electric scooter to get up and down here because it's really long. But there's many different beach lagoon coves that you'll see along this way. Beautiful water. Also if you guys are enjoying this video so far I would encourage you guys to like the video, subscribe to the channel and if you're already subscribed turn on the bell to get notifications when we drop a new video. We just made three videos from Israel and we're headed to Egypt next. So as we're standing here along the waterfront we've passed by many different beaches. Tel Aviv beach, Aviv beach, Jerusalem beach, many different beaches. As we start to push up into the town you'll start to reveal some of the streets and all that stuff. But the population of Tel Aviv in general 3.5 million. And right now we're actually walking around Niv Sedek which is an artistic neighborhood. So this area here is actually the old train station. They've now turned it into a cafe, artsy kind of area where you can also get some food. And right here that's the old train station. Getting some ice cream. On a hot day Snickers ice cream. So you guys are seeing all this jewelry on my arm here. This comes from Istanbul. This comes from Petra Jordan. This comes from Jerusalem. This comes from Jerusalem. I just kind of collect it as I go. And now what we're going to do is we're going to show you around the area of Saint George Street here in Central Tel Aviv. All right now we're going to go cruise around Tel Aviv at night. Beautiful atmosphere right now. Lots of people out and about. When you get to Tel Aviv just remember King George Street. All right guys that's going to conclude this episode of Island Hop TV from Tel Aviv Israel. We'll see you on the next one.