Shalom Israel, a modern mix of people, food & religion

The flight from Tenerife to Tel Aviv in Israel was straight forward. Apart from a very early start that day and a 1hr layover in Madrid, the flight was good (the first landing we'd had for a while, that didn't set the heart racing) and we arrived in Tel Aviv on time. Despite reading about and expecting an excessive interrogation at immigration, ours was fairly brief. And then we were through to baggage claim.

Our rucksacks did not arrive. And we were not alone in this.

So we then spent the next hour or so trying to get some help from the Lost Baggage counter, where an older guy who spokw mostly Hebrew was trying to get to the bottom of why so many people from our flight had no bags. After being simply told "you're not on my list" repeatedly, but given no context of what list he was referring to, we were quickly losing patience. Finally he handed out forms (in hebrew) for us to complete amd semt us home.

We picked up a taxi outside the airport. Tip: when exiting Ben Gurion airport people will ask if you want a taxi. We were being asked as we came out of customs and into the arrivals hall. These taxis will be much more expensive than you need to pay. Heading out of the airport, the queue for taxis is on the far left. Walk down and discuss how much with the driver. In 2023, to get to the city you should expect to pay 200-250 New Israeli Scheckles (ILS). Taxis here are not cheap.

We arrived in the old town of Jaffa, at a friend's apartment, a stone's throw from the ocean. Shera greeted us and showed us to our very comfortable room, a bed with the deepest mattress I've ever seen. Despite not having any of our things, we were soon relaxing and settling in. Shera provided us with emergency provisions of toothbrushes, toothpaste and everything else we needed until we were able to locate our bags and collect them from the Airport the next day.

Tip: Be wary of booking flights with really short connections! If you will be hard pushed to make the connection, then you can guarantee your lugguage also will be under the same pressure and simply won't move as quick as you! We had a 1hr layover in Madrid and it took exactly 1hr to get across the airport to reach our gate before it closed. Madrid airport is massive. Given that we only just made it, on reflection of course our bags were not going to make it. Short layovers therefore put your bags at risk of making it on board your connecting flight.

We spent our first few days just getting acquainted with the old town of Jaffa and the adjacent city of Tel Aviv.

Jaffa has a real community feel; a series of stone paved interconnecting streets full to bursting with cafes restaurants and bars all spilling on to the street. A variety of music plays way too loudly from one corner and competes with music of a different style playing way too loudly from a place across the street. People mill about shopping in the boutiques or antiques stalls, or venture into the sprawling flea market, before meeting friends for a bite or a drink. Jaffa feels like a living and breathing thing. It's vibrant and fun, yet historic and beautifully quaint. From the small town, you can wander into the old streets that lead to the historic port which now greets you with more boutique shops and delicious eateries, but here you enjoy gorgeous views of the blue Mediterranean and boats clink in the harbour. The streets are clean and the infrastructure is well established; you can tell that this is a place that continues to be invested in.

From Jaffa you can walk the promenade all the way to the northern coast of Tel Aviv. We walked the 7.5km one sunny day and soon realised that Tel Aviv city had a very different feel to Jaffa. The city sprawls westwards to the coast buffered by beautiful green public spaces that lead to a number of beaches, all with a different feel, attracting their own crowd. There is a beach for the gay community, and one specifically designed for young families, one tailored for surfers and another for general tourists and so on.

The promenade is heaving with people walking, roller skating, on scooters, busking, or simply enoying the view. People in Tel Aviv spend a lot of their time outside socialising, exercising or eating. It's the same in a lot of cities with good climates I find; private space is at a premium, so outdoors in the public spaces is the next best thing.

Turning right and entering the city, apartment buildings and hotels reach skyward on all sides with small cafes, bars and restaurants at pavement level enticing you in. Its a bustling city of concrete and glass, with taxis and buses flying past on their way to the next stop. It feels like any cosmopolitan city with a thriving economy and an outdoor culture. And the truth is, we didn't expect it. I don't think we really knew what to expect when we came to Israel, but it wasn't this vibrant, colourful, well established, warm and welcoming place.

Here, Muslims, Jews and Christians live beside each other. On every block there is either a mosque, a synagogue or a church and the community on the streets is hugely diverse, but comfortable and appear accepting of one another. We are in Israel at a time where Muslims are celebrating Ramadan, Jews are celebrating Passover, and Christians are celebrating Easter, and they all allow for each other; restaurants and cafes sell a limited menu and close early, and public transport is limited at certain times. It is refreshing to see tolerance and liberal acceptance in abundance here. And even in August each year they hold a huge gay Pride celebration in the city. It seems a very accepting place in many ways.

But living in Israel has its challenges; it's facing civil and military unrest and political uprisings on many geographical fronts, and being a small country, these challenges are never very far away from your door. The people here do a really good job of getting on with their lives, but incidents are frequent and you have to be aware of threats all the time.

Our first experience of this really frightened me; Shera and I had gone into Tel Aviv, leaving Gaz at the apartment in Jaffa. We were sat outside in a cafe in the city when unexpectedly, fighter jets flew overhead very very low above the city. The deafening sound made people look up and as it continued on and on, confused, people began to leave buildings and step into the street, asking people around them what was going on. People were checking their phones and reassuring each other that the sirens hadn't sounded. Shera explained that there was an audible siren that would sound if we needed to take cover in a Mamad. A Mamad is a safe room that is designed to withstand explosions an blasts from conventional weapons. Shera has a Mamad in her apartment and most public buildings have them as well. Despite being disconcerted by the reaction of the local people, the sirens didn't sound and ultimately we were fine. A short while later we learned that there had been a weapon loaded military drone sent from Gaza airspace into Israel and the jets had been sent to neutralise the drone. A day later missiles were fired from Gaza into Israel; Israel destroyed all but 4 missiles (these landed in unpopulated areas).