Tel-Aviv - Day 14

Everything is closed today. I was getting really nervous since I hadn't gotten much in terms of souvenirs and had only 1 day left. My uncle was off work and we could do something since he has a car, but it's a holiday (Pesach or Passover) so everything is closed. Therefore we decided to go to Jaffa since we didn't really see it as part of the tour. We only got to get off the bus for 5 minutes and take pictures - that was our only view of Jaffa.
But today, my uncle, his wife, his youngest child, and I went to Jaffa. The day was perfect - a very slight and pleasant breeze accompanied the warm sun. Because it was a holiday, there were hardly any cars out and very few people out and about. Mostly, I guess people just stayed at home. Which gave us the freedom to roam around without crowds. We ducked into nearly all the galleries that were open (and most of them were closed) and browsed to our hearts' content. The views of Tel-Aviv from here (which is north of Jaffa) were great. Waves, greenery, sunshine - it was a perfect spring day. I won't see this weather back home till mid-June probably.

Having walked all over the upper part of the town we made our way through the narrow and shadowed streets to the port. Until the port of Haifa was established as a major port, this one in Jaffa was the primary port of Israel. It's been a port since ancient times, and still works as a port.
Here, we took a little boat ride that lasted about a half hour or so, but gave panoramic views of Jaffa and Tel-Aviv. The wind wasn't too strong while we were on the water, but it was a little wobbly. I don't like roller-coasters and this wasn't as bad, but I definitely felt my stomach doing flips.
After the boat ride, it was time to head back home (it was close to 2 PM) and on the way we stopped for some shashliq. This time it was chicken and we took it to go. It was really delicious. Surprisingly so, since I'm a bit of purist in this regard and don't eat chicken shashliq. I guess I consider it chicken on a sqewer, but this one had all the right spices and such. To reiterate, it was delicious.

Eilat, Tel-Aviv - Day 13

This morning the weather looked absolutely gorgeous and my uncle asked if I wanted to go tanning. Having lost my voice completely by morning, I declined (the Silent post was written on Eilat - Day 12). So we set out back to Tel-Aviv right after breakfast, ahead of schedule. Too bad this gorgeous weather wasn't there for us yesterday. But oh well. I guess I'll have to come back. ;)

On the way back, we passed the same raw natural beauty, road signs I won't see at home, and the same Kosher McDonald's. Somehow I managed to nap most of the way back.

This was also the first day of Passover.
We don't celebrate with all the customs and traditions mainly because we don't know them. But we do have gefilte fish. And my great aunt made an awesomely delicious batch yet again. I know I have the recipe from the last time she visited us, but I didn't see her make it. All I know is that the process is very involved (several times she passes the fish meat through the meat grinder, and that's after picking out all the bones).