Yekev fun

April 20, 2009 - 9:48 PM by Jessica · 2 Comments
Filed under: Food, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness 

kobi-at-andrews-partyIt’s great to be reminded of certain, extremely Israeli cultural phenomenons. I headed straight into one of those last week for a friend’s 40th birthday party, which was held at a yekev in Holon. Technically, a yekev is a winery, and in these days of Israeli boutique wineries, one might think that they’re heading to an evening of wine tastings, with a side of smelly goat cheeses.

Uh uh. This yekev, like others of its kind, is a completely different animal. It’s the yekev of yore, a wine club of sorts, where diners sit at long wooden tables, drinking cheap wine and eating family-style platters of bread, spreads and fried fish. There’s one in nearly every Israeli city. But the real entertainment begins when the MC takes the stage, a guy in a leather cowboy hat takes the floor, and Israeli songs of yore are played, their words displayed on huge screens on either side of the room, visible to everyone in the place.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, sings along, and the dance floor quickly fills with people of all ages, types and sizes. They’re dancing in circles, in lines, as couples, slow and fast, pretty much oblivious to the others around them. And some diners stick to their tables, standing on the chairs and the tables, an act that’s absolutely encouraged. Fun, as you can imagine, is had by all.

Our evening didn’t end with Andrew’s birthday. We headed home, directions clutched in our hands, the map book open on my lap. We knew how easy it is to get lost in these parts, as we’d gotten lost on the way, asking a string of taxi drivers and Holonites how to get to where we were going. But the streets were empty by the time we headed out of there, and at one point we sat at an empty traffic light, trying to figure out if we should be turning right or left. I finally turned my head to the right, to ask the driver next to us how to get to the highway, and found myself looking into the grinning face of a policeman, who rolled down his window and said, “I saw you sitting here through three green lights, and I figured you’d realize sooner or later that we were sitting next to you.” And, shockingly, he actually knew how to send us on our way.

Tags: , ,

Foto Friday – Visit Israel the Virtual Way

March 27, 2009 - 8:28 AM by Rachel Neiman · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Travel 

“Snob! Have you been to Tiberias yet?” The late great Israeli humorist Ephraim Kishon quipped that those words were scrawled across the Acropolis, chastising those Israelis who preferred to travel abroad rather than tour their own fair country. Today, fortunately, Israelis — and anyone else for that matter — can sit in the air-conditioned comfort of their Athens hotel and visit the sites of Israel in full color — thanks to a new feature on the Ministry of Tourism website: the Virtual Tour of Israel. The new multimedia experience includes 100 videos, 130 panoramic views and dozens of photographs. Here’s a classic:

mot_dome_of_the_rock

Ten virtual, ten-day tours are available online, including: general interest itineraries, Jewish interest, Christian interest, Culture and History, Nature, Family, Archeology, Active interest, Mobility challenged and — last but certainly not least — Food and Wine.

mot_mahane_yehuda

Sites that can be visited include Caesarea… Jerusalem… Mitzpe Ramon… the Dead Sea…

mot_dead_sea

The Bauhaus architecture of Tel Aviv …

mot_tel_aviv

Here’s Tiberias – we are not snobs!

mot_tiberias

The Haifa Port, where my running club, the Holyland Hash House Harriers, will be running this weekend with 40 sailors on shore leave!

mot_haifa_port

By the way, the Ministry of Tourism website is available in 11 languages and is updated on an ongoing basis.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An excursion to Zichron Yaakov

July 18, 2008 - 2:15 PM by Harry · 1 Comment
Filed under: History and Culture, Travel 

Zichron in the old daysEli Abutbul, head of the Zichron Yaakov council, does a great job of summing up his town’s draw:

Zichron Yaacov, an old settlement or “Moshava” on the slope of Mount Carmel, is a combination of the Carmel and Coastal Plain encompassing a web of romantic views and pastoral tranquility. You will find unique tourist attractions, country-style accommodations, galleries, restaurants, cafes, and excellent wine in Zichron Yaacov, all with [a] “taste of the past.”

Founded in 1882 by 100 recent arrivals from Romania, Zichron is home to Israel’s first winery, Carmel-Mizrachi. With its pedestrian-friendly streets, cafés, galleries and old-time charm (all of which can be enjoyed from concentrate on Founders St., also called Wine Way), the town attracts visitors from everywhere. Ironically, though, its pleasures are arguably a secret to most international tourists, who prefer to see the ruins of nearby Caesarea or the Bahai Gardens of nearby Haifa.

Street fairs with crafts, farmers’ produce, performances and exhibitions take place on many Fridays, with these activities reaching a fever pitch on the Passover and Succot holidays, when the weather is most mild and much of the country goes on vacation.

Located just south of the Galilee proper, Zichron is also growing as a destination for young families who are being increasingly priced (and paved) out of the megalopolis of Israel’s heart. Being situated at an easy commuter’s distance from both Tel Aviv and Haifa (not to mention access to the highly efficient train system at nearby Binyamina) has helped as well.

As a result of the larger trend, many English-speaking families are moving in to the area, where Baron Edmond de Rothschild is said to have funded at least five fledgling Zionist outposts in the late 1800s, lending today’s developing English-speaking bloc the Long Island-referencing self-depreciating nickname of “Five Towns” (wince).

Regardless, thanks to being perched on the Carmel ridge that runs alongside the coast, it’s one of the only relatively centrally located locales in the land to offer not only views of Mediterranean but also the relatively clear air that only reaches Israel’s upper altitudes.

An impressive resource of Zichron’s attractions can be seen here, while a series of great photos of the town can be seen here.

Tags: , , , ,

 

© 2009 ISRAELITY | Site by illuminea | Sitemap