I may or may not had to look up the word ‘jaunt’ to make sure I hadn’t invented it out of nowhere.
I’m writing this post from Malaga, drinking a coffee and generally hiding out from the mega clean up that is happening due to an ant infestation in the kitchen. Luis’ Mom is on a mission to kill & clean everything and I know from experience that when a mom wants to clean, you should just make yourself disappear.
Before arriving in Malaga, we spent 4 wonderful days in Tel Aviv with my brother and, dare I say, I think it was one of my favorite trips of all time.
Tel Aviv has a magic and energy that I hadn’t experienced before. There is a liveliness in the streets that doesn’t exist in other places. And so many people out and about – SO many people! The trip was quick, but we did a lot. We didn’t have much on the “to-do list”, just to go to the beach, eat and drink as much as we could, and generally try to stay cool. To be honest, I was worried about the near 100* temps + humidity and thought we just may be the dumbest people on earth for going to such a hot place in such a hot month, but it was great.
Lee picked us up from the airport and led us to his apartment, which we called home, along with his bossy roommate, for the next four days.
We quickly dropped off our things and then headed out to explore Tel Aviv, of course stopped to have our first “ice cafe”, which is basically a coffee milkshake.
We offer something very similar in Mazál, so we were trying to see if it really is like what we offer in Mazál (it is and isn’t) and had as many as them as possible.
After some (hot) exploring, we spent the rest of the night at a Shabbat dinner hosted by one of Lee’s friends. We chatted with a lot of people and I became best friends with the dog, per usual.
The following day we lazily made our way over to breakfast at Bucke Café, which we LOVED.
We shared just two plates at Lee’s recommendation, partially because Tel Aviv is crazy expensive and partly because we had stopped along the way for some snacks. One thing we loved about Tel Aviv were all of the little cafés and the bustling restaurants so we stopped any chance we got to try something new. Photos from Babka Bakery.
After lunch we headed back for a little rest (that Israeli heat really takes it out of you!) and then headed to the beach for sunset. We played in the huge waves and then watched the sun set over the ocean every night and it may have been my favorite thing of the whole trip. Also the water was incredibly warm, like bath water!
We had dinner at Halevantini which was the third time I’ve eaten there, twice on the last trip and once on this trip. The food is fresh, vibrant, and….most importantly….reasonably priced 😉
We stopped for drinks on the way home and people watched a bit before calling it a night.
Our third day was spent walking all over Tel Aviv. We walked from Lee’s apartment to the Shuk, on a mission to find burekahs and burkehas we found!
The best part about exploring a place with someone that lives there is that they know exactly where to get the good stuff. We explored the shuk, went to Levinsky Market for burekahs and gazoz. We ate this labneh-stuffed pita thing.
From there, we walked all the way to Jaffa to continue exploring, stopping along the way for ice café, iced coffees (they’re different) and snacks.
We walked back towards Tel Aviv along the beach, eventually stopping to watch the sunset. Once the sun was set, we continued along the beach, stopping briefly to watch a dance event before heading to Sabich Tchernichovsky (try saying that 3 times fast), which was theeeeeee most delicious Sabich. Also I was starving, so that helped.
We ended the night with ice cream and then headed home for 11 (yes 11) hours of sleep.
On our final day in Tel Aviv, we did what we do best…ate and ate and ate. I don’t have pictures of it all, but we started at Café Xoho for bagels. Can’t go on a trip and not have bagels, right?
Actually, that’s a lie. Along the way we stopped for pastries from Lehamim Bakery where we tried various burekas, rugelach, and little cinnamon roll-type things. You know, to give us the energy we needed to get to Café Xoho.
We spent the rest of the last day walking around, trying various pastries, and then we sat at the beach and chatted as the sun set in front of us. That view never gets old. We ended our last night at the most delicious restaurant I’ve ever tried – Mifgash Rambam, which we got as a recommendation from an Israeli friend. We had a schwarma platter with homemade fries and salad, a fire-roasted corn with spicy alioli dish, a salad with chopped herbs, apricots, almonds and tangy yogurt, and a kebob skewer of spiced meats. It was all so, so good.
And with that, our short juant in Tel Aviv came to an end and honestly I was sad to see it end. When I say it was one of my favorite trips ever, I meant it. Also, having my brother there was part of the magic – we make each other laugh like no one else. In just a few short weeks, he is coming to stay with me in Madrid, so the magic shall return.