1. Rent an apartment. My mom is a new-experience fanatic. Whenever we go anywhere, she always does her research and seeks out the most interesting things to be done in a country. One such discovery that we took advantage of was renting an apartment in downtown Tel Aviv from a single woman named Adva. It was a beautiful little loft apartment, two bedrooms and a bath, 10 minutes walk from the beach. We put down a security deposit, like you would do in the states, and at the end of our stay we paid Adva for the utilities we’d used as well as the apartment itself. Many people throughout Israel that we talked to have a setup like this, an extra addition to their house or even a separate apartment entirely that is kept up for the sole purpose of bringing in travelers (not really even tourists--some of my Israeli friends have told me they’ve taken advantage of this phenomenon as well!) and revenue.
The thing about staying in an apartment versus a hotel or a hostel or even a bed-and-breakfast is that your trip begins to feel much more real-life, much more everyday, and that is a little exciting. Living in a foreign country on a micro-timeline is like a taste of an authentic world without the commitment, and just as it is fun to play house when you’re young, sometimes it is fun to play I-live-in-a-foreign-country for a few days.
2. Take an (un)usual method of transportation. Sure, renting a car or taking a taxi is probably the easiest way to get around for the unfamiliar traveler, returning to you the power lost by your utter unfamiliarity with a foreign culture, but it also takes a lot of the fun out of learning a city. My mom (again, many of my travel tricks come from her) loves to take city buses and learn how the regulars get around. That is why we took public buses, sheruts (like taxis but van-sized), and lime green rent-a-bikes that had kiosks on nearly every major city block. As I mentioned in the previous entry, it’s fun to play I-live-here for a while. And nothing says everyday rat-race citizen like squeezing onto a public bus and praying to god the driver pauses at your stop.
3. Have a business meeting. My whole family are glassblowers, so when we knew we were going to Israel, my mom kicked into high gear trying to find all the connections she could make between her job at the glass studio here at home and anything in Israel, the birthplace of glass. She found exhibits, tours, books, almost anything a person could possibly absorb about the subject, and she began to make calls. There is an organization in Israel called AIDA, the Association of Israel’s Decorative Arts, and my mother instantly made friends with one of the women there, Noa. We arranged to drive up to Akko one day and spend some time learning what their organization does, and shortly the day arrived. We went to three different studios around town—one actually in the middle of nowhere on a kibbutz—and ended at Noa’s favorite restaurant.
Now, the Israelis know how to eat, and they know how to do business, and one thing I love about their country is their ability to efficiently do both at the same time. We spent more time getting to know each other over lunch than we did at all our morning stops combined, trading stories as fast as we traded plates from the mezze of dishes. A mezze is a selection of small dishes served for a meal, sort of like a buffet but you only have to share it with your table. Many restaurants in the Middle East subscribe to this kind of table atmosphere. Wherever you go, try to make a new connection, and for the love of all things holy, do it over lunch.
4. Find the hole-in-the-wall. Places that surprise you, or that you wouldn’t have found just by walking down the street. The best places, in my experience, are the ones you have to do a little digging to find. Almost unnoticeable dark alleys lead to the most cozy restaurants, like my favorite place, Tmol Shilshom in Jerusalem. I was immediately drawn to this place because I’d heard it was a bookstore-turned-café that still had all its old trappings, and I for one am a sucker for anything bookish. After three turns down an alley and a somewhat precarious outdoor stair climb up two floors, my parents and I were washed in the glow of this tiny restaurant. We sat down and were given menus printed in the style of books, with famous literature as the cover (in Hebrew, of course, but not all the literature featured was purely Israeli. I got a copy of The Old Man And The Sea!). The small room was brimming with customers, townies and tourists alike, and the waiters seemed to have no problem flitting around, making sure everyone was ok, even bringing coffee if conversation was flagging. It was there that I had some of the best créme brulée I’ve ever tasted: the inside still chilled from the fridge, the sugar on top still hardening from the torch.
Small places like this, frequented by the locals and dedicated visitors, are the heart and soul of any country you visit. Instead of seeing what face the country puts on every day for show, cozy up with its quieter face, the one that doesn’t necessarily want to dance for your money. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
5. Explore with your own two feet. Go to a national park, for instance, Gamla, in the north of Israel. Israel really does have a beautiful dedication to preserving their history. There are hundreds of national parks and hiking trails, all throughout the country. History museums are one thing, and there is no shortage of those in Israel either, but in a country whose stones are older than your own country’s constitution even, there is an advantage to be taken. Being a small country, Israel is peppered with a high concentration of national parks that are easily accessible to the everyday traveler. In fact, from a young age young Israelis are taken on field trips to see their country and learn history from the very stones that were present for it. Something I wish our country would do. There is something so different about feeling a place, rather than just seeing it on a screen or a page. Closing your eyes and allowing layers of time and life and memory slowly seep into your consciousness, unobtrusively and without expectation.
{All photos from my personal trip collection. - CC }
No comments:
Post a Comment