Other exhibits include "Bugs and Beyond", which includes live creatures and teaches visitors about the world of
; "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.
