Valentine's Day in Tel Aviv

Yesterday (Valentine's Day) was a gorgeous day in Tel Aviv - about 80F, beautiful blue skies and warm sunshine.  We took advantage to walk in Tel Aviv, and had a great time.  This was unofficially the first day of spring - even though spring hasn't come yet.  Lots of other Israelis and tourists were out of doors, especially as last week we had a couple of days of rain.

After driving down past the throngs who filled Hayarkon Park - with its vast green areas and playgrounds, lake, bird sanctuary, bike paths and sports fields - we parked about mid-way down the "tayelet" or promenade along the beach.  From there we walked south, all the way down to Jaffa, passing playgrounds, lots of beachgoers, surfers, "matkot"-players (a very Israeli game involving 2 players with small rackets and a small, hard ball), ice cream vendors, and even a couple of colorful music bands.  The City of Tel Aviv- Jaffa recently invested considerable sums to build this terrific boardwalk/promenade extending from the northern tip of Tel Aviv all the way down to Jaffa (and ultimately even further south) - and Israelis and tourists are putting it to good use.

Jaffa, too, was bustling and full of life.  This is a unique and enjoyable area, and will surely become even more popular when some renovation projects currently under way are completed.  Among the treasures there are a recently-renovated Armenian Church that's several hundred years old, within spitting distance of the pounding surf -