Being A Free Spirit in Tel Aviv

February 23rd 2011

Tel Aviv. Where to go? What to do?

If you’re looking for a place with a phone in the shower ( great acoustics!), you certainly have to check into The Melody Hotel in Tel Aviv. “If you want creative people, give them enough time to play” is there motto/ Melody is serious about creating an atmosphere that is conducive to freeing the mind and the spirit.  While its name and motto might take you back to the groovy days of the 60’s, this hotel is anything but outdated.  They have incredible business room facilities if you are touring in Israel for professional reasons, these rooms are decorated to create an atmosphere of utmost relaxation.  Not that it’s so hard, when you are situated right on the Mediterranean Beach in Tel Aviv, but business in Israel can be brutal, so Melody is here to relieve you of any unwanted stress.

If you’re staying at the Melody and happen to walk the few minutes to the happening downtown, what can you expect to see there?  Tel Aviv prides itself on being the cultural heartbeat of Israel. Pick up the Ha’aretz/ Herald Tribune International, containing The Guide which lists all the various opportunities for a good time. If you’re there in the summer, you can attend the Israel Cherry Festival, where everything is edible and made from, you guessed it, cherries. Or the International Film Festival.  Or the Phenomena Festival, which presents a plethora of theatrical performances using puppets (will actually blow your mind).

Night owls are welcome here. Most people going out at night don’t head out until 12 am, and the streets are still thick with people until 3 am.

Some other nicknames for Tel Aviv include “the 19th most expensive city in the world ( City Mayors Publication)”, ” Mediterranean’s New Capital of Cool”, and the third “hottest city for 2011” by Lonely Planet (behind New York City and Tangier).

While the city is modern, the origins of the Tel Aviv namesake are biblical. In Ezekiel 3:15 it states “Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.” Things have changed since Ezekial’s days. With a groovy stay at the Melody Hotel in Tel Aviv, a sun-ridden day on the Tel Aviv beach, and some cool electric evenings out in the night scene, life will be anything but overwhelming.