Tel Aviv Graffiti to the Beach

Passover and the intermediate days of the holiday, Chol HaMoed (the non-holy part of the festival when we are permitted to do many activities but should still try to avoid work), was way back in April but I have had a busy few weeks and not had the chance to blog about it. Better late than never, right? The boys didn't join us for any days out at all this year and my dad didn't visit either, but I am not one to rest on my laurels. Mister Handmade in Israel and I went out anyway!

We had some errands to run in Tel Aviv one day and spent some time walking around the southern area of the city, an area which is considered less affluent than northern Tel Aviv. In recent years Tel Aviv has received many non-Jewish migrants from African countries, primarily Eritrea and Sudan. They live in southern Tel Aviv, near to the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, along with foreign workers and students. Since the 1980s major restoration and gentrification projects has been implemented in the area and some of the older buildings have been renovated. However, many of the buildings in southern Tel Aviv are still covered in bright, colourful graffiti and, excited by what I saw, I decided to photograph some of it.

Graffiti in Israel was boosted in the early 2000s largely due to the British artist Banksy, who visited Israel and the Palestinian Territories, causing a stir in the local art scene. Some pieces of Tel Aviv street art are just well executed art works representing the artistic flair of the city, while others address political issues and can be served as a crash course on Israeli society. Although drawing on walls is actually illegal here, municipal authorities turn a blind eye. The graffiti is in fact so widespread in this area of the city, you actually wonder if is still illegal at all!

Another day of the holiday, the one day that the weather wasn't so good, Mister Handmade in Israel and I decided to visit the Middle East's largest natural history museum, the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, which recently opened in Tel Aviv.

The ark-shaped museum houses 5.5 million specimens from around the world, from early human skulls to rare taxidermy pieces. Items on display include the collection of German zoologist and Catholic priest Ernst Johann Schmitz, who lived in Israel a century ago. In the "Treasures of Biodiversity" exhibit, Schmitz's taxidermy pieces include the last bear from 1916, an Asiatic cheetah from 1911, and the last crocodile from the Taninim River, all species that have become extinct in Israel.

In another exhibit, a 20-foot-long interactive map of Israel showcases current environmental problems including the depletion of Israel's only freshwater source, the Kinneret or Sea of Galilee, and the shrinking of the Dead Sea by three feet every year.

Other exhibits include "Bugs and Beyond", which includes live creatures and teaches visitors about the world of arthropods; "Life in the Dark", which offers a glance at animals from Israel and around the world that live without daylight; "Urban Nature", which reveals the city life of wild animals, and "What Makes Us Human?", which surveys the biological and cultural evolution of the human species.

Israel attracts millions of visitors from around the world every year who are eager to discover the country's cultural and religious artifacts. The museum, expected to host 150,000 visitors per year, will be now able to offer visitors to the Holy Land an in-depth look at the region's unique natural history, both ancient and modern.

An interesting aside, the museum's ark-shaped wooden exterior was originally designed to look like a treasure chest. Only after construction did the building take on new meanings, the main one being Noah's Ark, preserving nature's treasures for future generations.

After our visit to the museum we decided to take a walk along Tel Aviv's tayelet, or promenade, and we soon spotted David Ben-Gurion on the beach 😉. Ben-Gurion, besides being the first Prime Minister of Israel, was one of the key people to establish the state of Israel in 1948. He was a Polish Zionist who moved to the area from his native country with the aim of creating a nation for the Jews.
Apart from being a great thinker, residents of the area of ​​what is now known as the Ben Gurion Boulevard in Tel Aviv, said it was very common to see him doing exercise or yoga in front of his house or at the beach.
Considered a quack by some people and a miracle worker by others, Russian-born Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984) was an engineer, a physicist and an expert in judo who suffered from debilitating pain in one of his knees. After experimenting on himself, and utilising everything he could learn about human movement and brain activity, he came up with a revolutionary system of treating pain.
Sometime in the early 1950s, Feldenkrais began working as a scientist for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). At about the same time, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion began suffering from back pain so severe that he was hospitalised several times. Finally, when his doctors couldn’t help him, the prime minister turned to Feldenkrais for relief.
As part of his treatment, which actually cured the prime minister's agonising pain, Ben-Gurion was told to stand on his head for a few minutes each day to get his blood pumping. Sometimes, he did it at home. More often, he would stand on his head at the beach.
In 1957, photographer Paul Goldman portrayed the moment Ben Gurion did a handstand at the beach. On that same spot, today there is a statue depicting the iconic image. The statue was made by the German company Artilink Productions, and was placed by the company Zebra Sets. The statue has two purposes: to encourage the public to visit Ben-Gurion's house that is not far from there and to market the City of Tel Aviv-Yafo on social media through tourists who stand on their heads and post the photos online.

Photo from the Paul Goldman Collection at the Eretz Israel Museum, Tel-Aviv.

There was time for one more trip before the end of the holiday. We last went to Habonim Beach, or Hof Habonim, in 2015 and I was ready to go back. Habonim Beach is a nature reserve and beach with clear water inlets, cliffs, caves and incredible vegetation and wildlife. There are two well-marked nature trails along the beach - a shorter circular trail, and a longer 4.5 km trail along the cliffs to Tel Dor, where you can find the remains of an ancient city and harbour. Since we only had one car with us on the day we visited, we had to take the circular route, the green route, which led us back to the car park. As is usual with me, our shorter route took us about 2.5 hours anyway, with many stops for a picnic and to look at the shells and colourful sea glass and take photos.

The rugged coastline at Habonim Beach is made of sandstone ridges or kurkar in Hebrew and Arabic. This particular part of Israel's coastline is in fact one of the last places along the coast of Israel where you can get a view of these sandstone ridges, which are fast disappearing.

The walking trail took us by rocky inlets and through sandy coves to the top of the sandstone ridge. It passes by a number of attractions that are unique to Habonim Beach, such as the "Blue Cave" - a cave formed over the course of many years by processes of erosion, dissolution and collapse, which acquired its name thanks to its shades of blue; "Shell Bay" - an inlet lined with a thick layer of shells that have found their way to the shore; and the "Shipwreck" - the remains of a ship that was carrying cement and went aground near to the shore. Evidence of human activity can also be found in the chain of ancient wells that were dug here in order to reach the groundwater, which is very close to the surface. The wells provided the inhabitants with drinking water, and were also used for irrigation - alongside them you can see the remains of stone troughs for watering animals. 

We climbed up a small hill which afforded a stunning 360° view of the whole area - not only of the beaches but also of the Carmel Mountains behind us. At "Flower Hill" the trail split into two. We reluctantly turned around to follow the green markers for about a kilometre to get back to the car park, though there was still a lot to see before then. The vivid yellow Spring Groundsel and purple Cut-Leaf Sea-Lavender became more abundant as we moved inland. Towards the end of the route we stopped by a well and were delighted to see a family of turtles sunbathing on a tree trunk and happily swimming in the murky water.

My return visit to Habonim Beach had been as much fun as the previous one. I had seen the sea, soft white sand, shells, flowers and some wildlife too! I know there will be plenty more visits in the future.

* This post has been shared on My Corner of the World,  Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Wordless Wednesday, Little Things Thursday, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Communal Global, Travel Tuesday and Tuesday's Treasures.

The Sharon Coast National Park

We visited the Sharon Coast National Park, also known as Hof HaSharon, at the end of October last year. October can be wintry here in Israel but it was a beautiful day and we were able to enjoy the well-marked, easy to hike trails before the rain came down in force the following day.

Situated near the coastal town of Herzliya, the park runs along the Mediterranean coastline, in an area where the sandstone cliffs rise 40 metres above the shoreline in places. When the sea is rough, the waves break against the steep cliffs and flood the entire strip of beach. Private lagoons and charming bays, created by the natural erosion of the sandstone cliffs, are also features of the area. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority have prepared the southern portion of the park for the public. The area is totally fenced in, and entrance is by foot only. 

Arriving at the park, we decided to follow the Cliff trail which took us along the sand dunes and past some spectacular observations points. To the south we could see the smokestacks of the Ashdod power plant, and to the north the hotels in Netanya, and the smokestacks of the Hadera power plant. We passed a small channel going down to the shore, which my youngest son of course had to run down, then a second observation terrace with more wonderful views of the sandstone cliffs. From here the path branched out eastbound for those needing to shorten their hike and return to the beginning. We continued on towards the Iris trail, where species of the purple iris bloom in February. Eventually we had no choice but to return south on the Gazelle trail. On our way we passed an artificial irrigation pool, intended to quench the thirst of the herd of deer that live in the national park, but which also attracts other wildlife such as fox and a species of porcupine. The deer are notoriously shy and difficult to spot.

Another notable feature of the park are the winter pools, which some people call swamps. These swamps used to cover the entire area and made farming (and the threat of malaria) a nightmare for the earliest Jewish immigrants to pre-State Palestine. In the early 20th century, Eucalyptus trees were planted to dry out the swamps and make the land usable. All that remains of these swamps are within the park grounds. When they swell with the winter rains, the largest pool covers over fifty acres.

The Sharon National Park is not all that well known and so was not overrun with other visitors. We were able to enjoy the sand dunes and forests, all within the park grounds, in relative peace and quiet. It was a lovely place to visit.

Hof Habonim

Our favourite day out over Passover was the day we drove north to the Hof Habonim Nature Reserve, just south of Haifa. Israel's coastline is generally straight, without many bays or coves. The exception is Habonim Beach, or Hof Habonim, where the eolianite rocks ("kurkar" in Hebrew and Arabic) have created an indented, rugged coastline characterised by circular bays, sandstone ridges (Hof Habonim is one of the last places along the coast of Israel where you can get a view of these sandstone ridges, which are fast disappearing), and soft white sand. The reserve includes a 4.5 km long stretch of coastline, from Tel Dor in the south to Moshav Habonim in the north, and is now one of my favourite Israeli Mediterranean coast beaches.

The reserve has two main routes that are marked in the leaflets given out at the entrance. The beginning point of the route is marked in red. After passing through various places, the path splits into a red and green route. Since we only had one car with us on the day we visited, we had to take the circular route, the green route, which led us back to the car park, while continuing along the red route would have taken us south to Tel Dor. This route is around 4.5 km in length and takes about 4 hours of slow walking. As it happens, our shorter route took us about 2.5 hours, with many stops to collect shells, colourful sea glass and paddle in the shallow waters.

The trail first climbs the rocks overlooking the coast, and goes in and out of little coves. Our first stop was at a cove literally covered in seashells and surrounded by kurkar rock jutting into the sea. We really didn't know what to look at first - the mountains of seashells, the beautiful blue sea, or the unusual kurkar rocky plates, which have been abraded over the years by the waves until they became levelled down and flat. A few of the abrasion plates form "islands" near the shore. The view of the waves endlessly covering and uncovering these rocky plates was mesmerising.

After a short distance we got to an old kurkar quarry, below, which once supplied "kurkar" stone (an amalgamation of sandstone and seashells) to neighbouring villages. The rock was taken out in an ingenious way: dry wooden planks were hammered into the rock, then they used to wet it with water, causing the wood to expand and push the kurkar rock apart. Further along, from the top of the ridge, we saw ruins of a ship that was shipwrecked.

Along the route we saw some beautiful flowers, which were more abundant as we moved inland from the coastline swept by the salty wind. The bright red poppies and the vivid yellow Spring Groundsel reminded us that summer is on its way. Towards the end of the route we stopped by a well and were delighted to see a family of turtles sunbathing on a rock and happily swimming in the murky water.
We had seen everything on our hike that our family enjoys -  the sea, soft white sand, shells, flowers and some wildlife too! Hof Habonim is one of the most unique beaches along the coast of Israel and, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful. Hiking along the nature reserve was particularly enjoyable and a wonderful way to spend a Passover holiday day.