The Israeli city of Tel Aviv is known, perhaps, no less than Jerusalem, the capital of the country. Of course, a huge number of pilgrims and tourists are traveling to the capital, but dozens and hundreds of thousands of people come here to get acquainted with one of the most prosperous cities in the Middle East. In addition, in the vicinity you can find a lot of ancient monuments, which are also worth a visit.
Once this city originated as a suburb of the city of Jaffa. The local Jewish community lived compactly in this suburb, and in the middle of the 20th century, the cities merged into one. The population of Tel Aviv is about 15 times smaller than the population of Moscow. At this place a century ago was located the ancient city of Tel-Kasila, built by the Philistines. Now there are only a few ruins left. The name Tel Aviv is translated from Hebrew as “mound of spring”.
One of the local beaches, Nord Beach, on certain days of the week is open to visits only by women or only by men. In Tel Aviv, more than half of all art centers in Israel are located – 18 out of 35. About 17% of the urban area is occupied by parks and other green spaces. It was here that the independence of Israel was officially declared in 1949. The most popular delicacy here is hummus. In the second half of the day, finding him is already difficult, because he is bought up all over. Hummus among the locals enjoys popular love.
The law prohibits the importation of fighting dog breeds into Tel Aviv. Unlike other Israeli cities, here you can visit almost all cafes and restaurants with their pets. Tel Aviv claims to be one of the sunniest cities in the world. It is sunny here for about 300 days annually. In the city limits there are 13 clean beaches, the total length of which reaches 14 kilometers.
One day, the popular magazine National Geographic placed Tel Aviv in 9th place on the list of the best coastal cities in the world. And he consistently ranks among the top 10 most expensive cities in the world. At night, life here does not calm down everywhere. Tel Aviv never sleeps. The overwhelming majority of locals speak English perfectly. Many speak good Russian. There are more than 150 official bicycle rental points.
Due to the fact that most of the buildings here are white (which is justified, given the hot climate and sunny weather), Tel Aviv is unofficially called the “White City”. Here come across amazing contracts. Mostly skyscrapers stand right next to houses built at the beginning of the last century from scrap materials. Almost all foreign embassies in Israel are located precisely in Tel Aviv, and not in Jerusalem.
Southern areas of the city, which are slums, are not recommended to visit after dark. But in general, the city is safe. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Tel Aviv was -1.9 degrees. By the number of sushi restaurants, this city ranks third in the world, second only to New York and Tokyo. Often Tel Aviv is called a city of high technology, and this is true. There are more than 1500 headquarters of companies engaged in technical innovations. More only in the USA, in Silicon Valley.
The tallest building in the city is a 42-story residential skyscraper 180 meters high. In Tel Aviv, more than 200 museums. That is why Israel ranks first in the world in the number of museums per capita. Public libraries are popular here. They contain a total of about a million books. The total length of Tel Aviv bike paths is more than 45 kilometers. On Saturday, no one in Israel usually works, but due to the huge number of tourists, this rule in Tel Aviv is often ignored.
