We started off waking up bright and early for an underground tour of the Western Wall. The Western Wall, aka the Wailing Wall is the only remnant of the Jewish temple. The temple that Solomon built was destroyed by the Babylonians. However, less than a century later, a much simpler temple was constructed to replace the original temple. Five centuries after that, Herod the Great began elaborate expansion on the Second Temple in order to restore the temple to its former glory. Herod's temple was then destroyed again by the Roman Empire, but a few pieces of the Western Wall remain as the stones were just too heavy to topple. Today, the Western Wall is a site of great spiritual significance. Even during our tour underground, we ran into many who were reading the Torah and praying in front of the wall. We also saw hundreds of notes left in crevices in the wall. It was definitely a very special and reverent experience.
We then visited two Israeli wineries. Both wineries were Kosher, which meant only "clean" people were involved in any of the wine-producing process. They were delicious. I ended up buying a bottle of Merlot from one winery, and a few wine jellies from the second.
We finally drove to our hotel in Tel Aviv. We walked down to Jaffa (which was Joppa in the Bible). It was gorgeous. In my opinion, Tel Aviv is like a humongous Austin with a salt water beach instead of Barton Springs. The downtown is crowded and sordid in some parts, and reminiscent of Austin's 2nd street in other parts. The people are diverse, liberal, and absolutely off-the-wall. I have decided if I ever move to Israel, Tel Aviv (specifically around Jaffa) is where I would be. I would LOVE to live by the ocean one day, but I'd be okay with the Mediterranean Sea!
Can you tell how absolutely tired I am today? We finished the evening off with dinner at one of the best seafood restaurants in Tel Aviv named Goocha. I had the Seafood Gnocchi, and I'll tell you that the restaurant really lived up to its reputation. Yum!
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