My First Day in Israel


Meeting the Mediterranean

Going through customs didn't take all that long and I got a cab quickly. The driver, who is a Moroccan Jew, knew immediately that I am from New York. He got me to Ben Yehuda in 30 minutes, to Top Hotel. I had some messages from my cousins. Since I wanted my eye looked at, cousin Ofer arranged for me to visit an ophthalmologist he knows. But first, I went to see the Mediterranean. I have been on the French, Spanish, and Italian ends, but never the Levantine end. It's the first days of spring and people were already swimming and surfing.

The doctor's office was in a residential area in the first floor of an apartment building. I was seen fairly quickly. He was a good doctor and he immediately poo-pooed the Sri Lankan MD and my need to see my own eye doctor in New York the following week, since, "If you follow my advice, you will be just fine." I just needed Viscotears.

I met with cousin Hanoch in the late afternoon. We walked around a bit and sat for a coffee. He had to go home, but he helped hand me off to cousin Carmit, Ofer's sister. She took me to a wonderful seafood restaurant on the beach, near the Dolphinarium, called Manta Ray. The wait staff were in Purim costumes, and everyone seemed to enjoy the restaurant. This was the first place where I saw the habit of Israeli restaurants offering a lot of salads. Here, we had a choice of salads, at other places, you wind up with all 13 of them.

It was a nice first day, and being the family historian, it was great to meet new cousins. Carmit is involved in theatre and loves living in Tel Aviv; her brother prefers the countryside.

Posted: Thu - March 24, 2005 at 02:05 PM        

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