Tremendous Tel Aviv

There are some cities where you just feel totally comfortable, embraced and almost 'at home' virtually as soon as you first arrive. You can't necessarily put your finger on why, but since life is always shaped by emotional responses it doesn't really matter. My list of these cities has been topped by Stockholm (surprise surprise), Amsterdam and Helsinki, but you can now add a high new entry - Tel Aviv.

Why? Good question. It's distinctly provincial in some respects (with a population of a mere 400,000), expensive, and often quite shabby. At just over 100 years old, the contrast with Jerusalem could barely be any stronger. And there's not a huge amount of active sightseeing to be done here.

However, it also nonetheless has a real buzz and vibe about it, while at the same time feeling very livable and manageable. It was a planned city inspired by the model of the, er, English garden city (so next stop Welwyn or Letchworth... or maybe not) and the care given to public space is very obvious - most roads seem to be tree-lined and public benches are very commonplace (something which is actually pretty important as a tourist and certainly missing in many cities). It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site for being the "white city" with extensive 1930s Bauhaus architecture (not entirely different to art deco) - albeit that many of these buildings need renovation. The city also has some very plush boulevards and squares, and an impressive collection of cutting-edge modern towers which lend it a dynamic 'going places' air. 

 Rothschild Avenue, Tel Aviv's swankiest street

Oh, and last but not least, the extensive and impressive beaches are only two blocks from the city centre! One of the many beaches is unofficially gay, although also the surfer's beach and the only beach where dogs are allowed - thankfully I only counted one dog turd...

Beachside

Tel Aviv is very obviously the liberal capital of Israel, and from talking to some locals, their pride in this is obvious. The gay scene is extensive. Everywhere else in Israel shuts down completely every Friday night for Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath), but in Tel Aviv it's actually the biggest night of the week - meaning that partygoers from everywhere else in the country descend on Tel Aviv. Combine that with the fact that it was the build-up to the big holiday season of Pesach (Passover), and my Friday gay clubbing experience at superclub TLV was uncomfortably crowded to say the least, although still memorable (and not just because I'd paid 17 pounds - the most ever anywhere I think, ouch - to get in) as there is no doubt that people here know how to party! The night before I'd been to another gay club called Barzilay which was holding a Britney Spears party - an interesting concept to say the least (albeit one I hope won't be repeated everywhere...!)

Increasingly I'm finding that my experiences in any place are heavily shaped by who I meet, and in Tel Aviv I hit the jackpot on two fronts - firstly with my fantastic Couchsurfing hosts Kobi and Ilya. I've thanked them, paid tribute (and expressed my wish to meet again) in person and on Couchsurfing itself, but I'll just mention their fantastic and multicultural Jewish cooking. Oshpilau is a delicious (and very filling) spiced rice from Uzbekistan cooked with chicken and raisins; malawach is fried bread from Yemen; while malabi is a yummy desert made with cornflour and passion fruit.

Secondly, I had a pretty intense holiday romance with a beautiful Brazilian boy called Paulo - it was lovely (and to be honest it severely curtailed the amount of time I spent out and about in Tel Aviv!), albeit that it's unlikely our paths will now cross again. It was an interesting glimpse into what the next phase of my life might have looked like if I spoke any Portugese (which I don't) and felt able to consider moving to South America (which I definitely don't). I guess such occasional glimpses into parallel universes is another feature of going travelling.

On my last night Kobi and Ilya were kind enough to take me to Evita for their world-famous (well, at least amongst Eurovision fans) weekly Eurovision Sunday. It is best known for the incredible dancers who stand at the front and perform move-perfect dances to all the modern classics of Eurovision - while I'd heard plenty about it, they truly have to be seen to be believed! There was a great atmosphere and the largish venue (considerably larger than downstairs at Retro in London) was full to bursting for some time. For those who don't know, the original concept of the Eurovision Song Contest in the mid-1950s was to promote international peace and understanding through the medium of song, and I couldn't help but think to myself when this British boy was dancing like a loon with his Israeli hosts to Armenia's "Qele Qele", that Eurovision's creator Marcel Bezençon would probably have been proud. :) Oh, and for those sad enough to care, the two UK songs played during the night were "One Step Closer" and "I'm Never Giving Up"... and the half dozen or so Swedish songs included two by Alcazar, yay!

This is one of those cities that keeps very different hours for party-going to London. The monthly Eurovision theme night in London, Douze Points, finishes at 11pm, but the Sunday night at Evita (i.e. during the working week) doesn't start until 10.30pm and didn't finish until around 4am... I understand that people don't usually bother going out before about midnight.

On the cultural front I did go to the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, which was sort of interesting in showing the many achievements and travails of the Jewish people worldwide over the centuries, but hardly a must-see to be honest. More memorable was a post-Evita walk home with Ilya which featured walking along the beach under an almost full moon, with crashing waves and the old port of Jaffa illuminated in the distance. Ilya persuaded me it was a good idea to have a quick paddle in the sea at 4.30am - definitely one for the "things I don't usually do at home" file!

 A couple of things I won't miss about Israel are:

• the airport-style security checks to enter shopping malls and bus stations (however necessary they obviously are); at Jerusalem bus station I was asked if I was carrying a knife, when I think what they must have been looking at on their X-ray screen was my nail clippers... 
• the currency - garish banknotes, confusing coins (the smallest value coin, worth less than 2p, is the shiniest and one of the largest, and they soon pile up in your wallet) and an apparent culture of dislike for 'large' banknotes even though they're what ATMs dispense. I think Tel Aviv was the first place I've ever been flatly refused service, at two separate places in one day, for trying to make a small purchase with a largish banknote.

However, Tel Aviv has been a real highlight and I really, really hope to make it back there sometime, and perhaps see some more of this fascinating country called Israel (and maybe the West Bank also while I'm at it, which I didn't get to in the end) too.