Post-Birthright Day 16: Tel Aviv-Yaffo and the Journey Home

At last, my last day in Israel.

I woke up too late to catch the early early bus (5:00am), so I had to cut out the first half of my day's plans (visiting the Diaspora museum)... but I was rewarded with a lovely morning view of the Kinneret as I rode the 8:00 bus from Tsfat to Tel Aviv. The plan was to check my large luggage at the central bus station, spend the day in Tel Aviv, then slowly make my way to the airport when I was done with the day and spend the night there (my flight was at 6:10am).

View of the Sea of Galilee leaving Tsfat.

After securing my luggage, I didn't feel like figuring out the Tel Aviv public transportation system if I was just going to be there for a day, so I caught a cab to Nachalat Binyamin, the market where I'd just chilled out when on Birthright. I don't like shopping in a rush, so I'd made myself wait until I got back and could take my time browsing before purchasing anything. I decided to treat myself to a nice lunch, and sat down at a sidewalk cafe and just watched the bustling market life go by - lots of Birthright groups like mine, lots of tourists, lots of artists and street performers... it was nice to get back to what I consider the "real world" I'm used to and just relax in a secular artsy urban environment.

While I was sitting there at my cafe table, I saw two familiar faces walk by: Meira and Reut! Meira was the field coordinator in charge of my and a few other Birthright trips, and she spent a lot of time with each group including us; and Reut was our security guard! They were both with a new group doing the usual Birthright one-hour lunch stop on Nachalat Binyamin. I jumped up to quickly say hi before they went off to lunch and I finished mine. It was nice to see a couple familiar faces after so much traveling and so many other experiences, on my last day in the country.

After my lunch I did some shopping for my family. I'd wanted so badly to get meaningful gifts for them that I had let it become the last day without finding anything that satisfied me, but I knew that I could find things here - I was more sure to get something unique and special at an artists' market than in the thousands of Jerusalem stalls selling cheap knicknacks made in China.  I got a beautiful handcarved mezuzah for my dad, and a handmade ceramic pomegranate sugar bowl for my mom.

Street performer outside the cafe where I had my lunch.

My yummy lunch - pasta, iced cappuccino, looking out at the market.

I then went to the main street to catch a cab to Jaffa. My cab driver was really nice and friendly, and we talked a lot on the trafficy ride... just about my time in Israel, his life growing up, his desire to leave (which is still an odd concept to me, that anyone Jewish would want to LEAVE Israel, when it's such an important mitzvah to live there), whether or not I'd ever move there, my life back home in L.A., etc. It was so nice to have a driver who wanted to talk, and not just sit there awkwardly.

My time in Jaffa consisted of walking the Old City streets I'd first seen on Birthright the first night of Chanukkah, looping around to the main square, collecting shells on the beach and taking in the view of Tel Aviv, exploring the Jaffa port, and sticking my head inside a church or two. I'll let the photos and captions do the rest:

The Wishing Bridge - an ancient legend holds that anyone boarding the bridge, holds its zodiac sign and looks at the sea - their wish will come true. Each of those bands has one of the signs of the zodiac engraved on it. The church is St. Peters, attached to the Vatican Embassy.

Self-portrait next to some cool graffiti: the "coexist" decal stencil, and under it "But First Exist."

The columns are all that's left from the Turkish governor's building when it was blown up in 1948. The clock tower was built by the Ottoman Empire around 1900.

View of Tel Aviv from Jaffa.

The Jaffa beach is made up entirely of beautiful shells.

Me picking shells on Jaffa beach.

Andromeda Rock, believed to be the location of the story in Greek mythology.

Jaffa port at sunset.

Winding through the streets of Old Jaffa, passing behind churches and monasteries.

There are always cats to be seen in Israel.

View out over Tel Aviv.

Ottoman period cannon.

The inside of St. Peter's church - too dark to tell, but it was really beautiful.

The sun had almost set, and since I wasn't desperate to experience any Tel Aviv nightlife and the outdoor sights and markets would be invisible or over, I caught a cab back to the bus station to eat some dinner, pick up my luggage, and head to the airport. I had a lot of time, and did a lot of chatting on the Internet and planning for my return to school mid-week. After catching a late bus to the airport, I tried to check in but my airline didn't have any desks open yet. I won't give all the details of my harrowing return home, but my advice: never fly Iberia if you can help it.  Apparently they were on strike, had cancelled my flight, had scheduled me for a flight the day before and never told me, and weren't going to do anything for me... but I finally managed to get them to pay for a flight on Lufthansa, which was also crazy because it took so long to get through Israeli security I almost missed my flight, then it took so long to get through the Frankfurt transfer I almost missed THAT flight... but I made it home.

I can't believe I'm finally done writing these Israel blogs... I feel there should be something profound to say at this point, but everything is so tied up in all the experiences I've already written about I don't feel there is much left to say. It was an incredible journey, and I know I will be back one day to keep exploring and learning.

As always, I do not include all (or even close to all) of my photos here in my blog.  To see all my photos from my post-Birthright travels, see my Flickr album:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtashalocke/sets/72157628990457609/