Tel Aviv – the City of Staggering Contrasts, Tel Aviv, Israel

It’s not the brightest idea to land on Israeli soil on a Friday afternoon. Shabbat, Judaism’s day for rest and tranquillity, has already kicked in and you must know that almost nothing is functioning during this period of cessation (literal translation of Shabbat from Hebrew). When I arrived in Tel Aviv, I already got a plan in mind and a map in hand, ready to jump on the train that will lead me to the city centre.

Oh, how mistaken was I when I learnt that besides very expensive taxis, there’s nothing I could take to lead me into this young metropolis. Since I was visiting Tel Aviv for a couple of days and then heading to Jerusalem for a Travel Blogger (TBEX) conference, I was quite lucky to stumble upon another participant of the conference at the airport.

Why lucky? Well, because she was welcomed by a local person with a car and they were kind enough to offer me a ride to the hostel I was going to stay.

As I mentioned, I was going to participate in a TBEX conference, and Abraham Hostel was a partner to this event. For that reason, as soon as I arrived and presented my shiny Bulgarian passport to the beaming lady at the reception, she said, “Oh, you are a travel blogger! Welcome to Abraham Hostel, we have some presents for you!” ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).