Israel – Tel Aviv (part 1)

I booked early morning flights from Luton to Tel Aviv, so we arrived early afternoon. We then stayed at a central hotel in Tel Aviv for 2 nights in the main street called Dizengoff Street. It was a good location for the beach and exploring. As we arrived early afternoon after 5-hour flight we decided to explore and find somewhere for some local food. On a road towards the beach was a nice-looking café with outdoor seating (and serving beer). We didn’t realise it was a vegetarian restaurant until after we ate but as we wanted humous and shakshuka it was perfect. Lovely meal and friendly service. After this we walked to the beach to watch the surfers and stopped at a beachfront bar for a beer.

Back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready to find somewhere for local Israeli food. And use of the hotel Wi-Fi to help locate a TripAdvisor worthy restaurant for our dinner. Found a lovely place with outdoor seating just off the main street. We tucked into a feast of salads, lamb, and chicken shawarma with lots of tahini dressing, very delicious.

Next day we had to have a proper Israeli breakfast and found a lovely place that didn’t disappoint. The breakfast consisted of egg (how you like) various salads and bread with some pastries and the Shakshuka was really garlicy. We then headed off on a long walk to wear off breakfast. We headed to the main market, the spice market, Jaffa then back via the beach. Stopped for a Chicken Shawarma wrap on the way back. Then a few stopped along the beach before back to our hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. We usually like to try different restaurants but after checking out a few we decided to go back to the same restaurant as the first night, there were load of options we wanted to try. Again, it didn’t disappoint.

Next day was another Israeli breakfast then transfer to Haifa Port for 3-night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas. See Israel part 2 for more details of the cruise.