Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

After the previous night's celebrations, we were happy to have a leisurely start to the day. Besides, just like for us when we're at home, Gil and Mira had a big pile of weekend newspapers to read. We were glad of the excuse to do very little for an hour or two. Gil, Mary and Brian then set off for a tour of the outskirts of Jerusalem. We visited a couple of nearby vantage points where Gil pointed out some of the Jewish and Arab settlements and the wire fence separating the two areas. It should be mentioned that this is a long way from any of the trouble spots and there have been no incidents in these particular areas.

Gil was keen to show us Castel National Park, which is a memorial commemorating key battles in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. The mountain commands the western approach to Jerusalem, overlooking the old road to Jerusalem. During the War of Independence, many convoys set out to break the Arab blockade of Jerusalem to send food and medicine to the Jews in Jerusalem. Many of these convoys were ambushed, and it became clear that control of the mountain meant control of the road.

In early April 1948, the Arabs deserted the village of Kastel, and the Israeli Palmach unit entered the village. The Arabs fought against them, and their leader, Abdul Khader el-Husseini, was killed. 41 Israeli soldiers were killed in the battle which followed, and the Israeli troops retreated on April 8. Three days later, in Operation Nachshon, the Israeli troops re-conquered the village without a battle.

We walked through the line of trenches, visited underground bunkers and saw two impressive audio-visual displays which showed how the out-numbered Jewish forces fought off the Arab forces. Most interesting.

Being Shabbat (the Sabbath), most things were very quiet, with hardly anyone around and very little traffic, which was good from our point of view. Gil and Mira had promised to take us to the historic port of Jaffa, nowadays a suburb on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, so after one of Mira's very generous lunches we set off. Jaffa is very scenic, and we found the visit most interesting..

Next, we headed in to Tel Aviv, to the new unit where Brian's second cousin Esther (Gil's sister) lives with her husband Yossi. When we were in Israel in 2014 we stayed with them in their house in Beer Sheba, where they were wonderful hosts and terrific tour guides. They were keen to show us their new unit, which was under construction when we were there previously. It really is spectacular, very modern and spacious with a view out to the Mediterranean coast. Even though several other apartment blocks are being built in the area, their balcony overlooks the historic Sarona area, after which their building is named, and they cannot be built out. Sarona was a German Templer colony established in Ottoman Palestine in 1871. It was one of the earliest modern villages established by Europeans in Ottoman Palestine. In July 1941, the British Mandate authorities deported 188 residents of Sarona, who were considered hard-core Nazi sympathisers. Nowadays it is a very trendy area with many parks, and with many of the historic buildings now repurposed as trendy restaurants. The ground floor of the building itself is now full with dozens of restaurants and trendy food shops. It's certainly an area with a lot of character - and a foodie's paradise.

The two of us together with Gil and Mira, Esther and Yossi and Esther's live-in carer Rachel headed off to an excellent Italian restaurant in one of the converted buildings, where we all enjoyed a really great meal.Read more