This little blogger loves his social media, so when Vine.co was announced back a few months ago, I joined pretty much within minutes of the announcement on Mashable. It also helped that my friends and I were hosting a costume party that night, so the option for short GIF-like videos was too good to pass up. Since then I’ve been enjoying sharing Vine videos from my life in Berlin and my travels abroad. During my Tel Aviv trip I remembered more often than not to pull out my iPhone and shoot some short, 6-second videos—moving postcards if you will!
Here’s my collection of videos from my week in Tel Aviv, with some added descriptions.
Bograshov Beach
During the biggest festivities in Tel Aviv over Gay Pride Weekend, I stayed at the ArtPlus Hotel. Besides being a rather trendy hotel (and art gallery), it was also conveniently located one block from the beach. Bograshov Beach isn’t necessarily Tel Aviv’s best, but it’s certainly the most accessible. It’s closest to Tel Aviv’s many hotels and near enough to several noteworthy locations—most importantly for me, it’s just a 10 minute walk from the beach to my favorite street food stall in Tel Aviv!
Tel Aviv Pride Party at Shpagat
In Tel Aviv for not just the sun and the sand, I attended several of the gay parties over the pride weekend. Shpagat is one of Tel Aviv’s newest gay bars and it reminded me a lot of what I typically see in Berlin.
Hummus Restaurant in Tel Aviv
No trip to Israel is complete without a healthy dose of hummus. This bowl was from a rather touristy spot on Allenby Street, but I have plenty of Tel Aviv cheap eats recommendations still to come!
Jerusalem Beach
Located at the very end of Allenby Street, Jerusalem Beach is far from my favorite in Tel Aviv, but being so conveniently located, it’s easy to stop there even if just for an hour in between meetings :)
Business Lunch at Hotel Montefiore
While in Tel Aviv I visited a handful of the city’s many boutique hotels. Hotel Montefiore is one of the most popular. It’s location is great and it’s restaurant is a long-time favorite for locals, business tourists and foodie travelers like myself. The business lunch was a great deal and the Vietnamese/seafood/Mediterranean cuisine was delicious. Really!
Dizengoff “Fire and Water” Fountain
Tel Aviv’s most colorful fountain, it’s a “love-it-or-hate-it” kind of design. By Israeli artist Yaacov Agam, this “kinetic” sculpture is a great meeting spot. I once attended a PeaceNow demonstration there, but other times just used it as a place to hang out before visiting some of the nearby clubs and bars.
Tel Aviv Beach Promenade
In my opinion, one of Tel Aviv’s best features is its beach and the sidewalk that runs along it. In the cool summer evenings, the Tel Aviv promenade fills up with people jogging and exercising along the route. During the day you might find people busking or selling goods. Over recent months, the city of Tel Aviv widened the pedestrian boulevard—to not everyone’s liking.
Ben Gurion Airport
Like many places in Israel, I’ve got a love-hate relationship with Ben Gurion Airport. It’s quite modern and nice on the inside, and they offer free wifi which is excellent. But their wifi connection also blocks Instagram which, for someone like myself who’s pretty much connected 24/7 to my smartphone (for better or worse, that’s another discussion), is quite annoying. Also, the security at Ben Gurion is some of the toughest in the world—sometimes needlessly so. Let’s not talk politics, though, and just enjoy the pretty fountain in the main waiting area. Wish they had some power outlets near this thing though…
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Be sure to follow my Vine videos by searching for “Travels of Adam” in your Vine app, or else following me on Twitter @travelsofadam.
I downloaded Vine on my phone the other day and I am in love with it! So much fun! I think it’s a great way to document travels too and this collection about Tel Aviv was interesting and fun:)
Thanks Giulia – I’ll look for you on Vine and make sure to see what you post. I’ve always enjoyed your Middle Eastern content :)
Very, very cool Vine videos! :-)
Thank you Miret! I enjoyed your “how to eat a pretzel” vine a lot – much better than my “how to eat hummus” one :) but it’s given me an idea for my next food vine!
[…] The hotel’s terrace is simple and sunny, but the real treat about the hotel’s location is its proximity to the beach. It’s one block away and the hotel will happily provide you with beach towels and maybe even a bicycle so you can get the full benefits of Tel Aviv’s beach promenade. […]
[…] Geographic even named Tel Aviv one of the top 10 beach cities in the world this year. Plus, the beach promenade is such an awesome pedestrian space whether you’re into people-watching, jogging, or gulping […]