Sleepless in Jaffa – Herods Hotel Tel Aviv
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Sleepless in Tel Aviv.
Contributed by Jens Hoffmann.
We spent a couples of days at the Dead Sea, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Tel Aviv is always a good time city. The light, the air, the food is outstanding and the beach inviting even in November. With the beach, an engaging contemporary art and design scene, UNESCO world heritage Bauhaus architecture, an internationally traveler scene you’ll do equally well in Tel Aviv whether you’re a pilgrim, hedonist or normal tourist. By the way, Tel Aviv has over 300 days sunshine a year and we had a shiny week in Israel.
We checked in on the top floor of the Herods Hotel Tel Aviv.
Tip: From Friday 2am until Sunday you should avoid the “Shabbath lift” if you are in a hurry…it stops on every floor. Try to avoid the lift on Sabbath.
Perfectly situated right across the Tel Aviv beach, it takes you back to the unique flair of Tel Aviv in the 1930’s, where the city had flourished into a pulsating centre of culture, economy, architecture and fashion of the newly developing country
The former Leonardo Plaza Hotel Tel Aviv shines in new glamour, transforming it into a spectacular luxury theme hotel.
As a connecting point between oriental and European culture Tel Aviv attracted many artists, intellectual, poets and painters.
Understandably, many visitors to Tel Aviv head straight to the beach. However, I would favour first getting a sense for the hotel, before we walked through the friendly city. I felt @home when I entered the nostalgic lobby and walked through the fragrant orange tree lined boulevard into Tnuvale, the dairy style restaurant. The hotel is built and furnished in an antique and stylish way, combined with high quality services. Wellness-area including fitness centre and swimming pool offer highest relaxation standards.
The outdoor pool is closed in winter times but the hotel has a direct access to the beautiful beach in front of the hotel and we had a lovely swim in the Mediterranean Sea. From the balcony on the 18th floor you have a spectacular view and Tel Aviv offers perfect red sunrises and sunsets. At the exclusive business lounge, located on the 17th floor you can enjoy the whole day light food and drinks overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and get a bit of the elegant business atmosphere of Tel Aviv in the 30’s.
The hotels design features a new style design and catches the mystical and exciting atmosphere of renaissance in all senses.
We enjoyed lovely things in our room, like a nice minibar and eg. a plate of fresh complimentary fruits on the table. Yummy!
Photos by the House & Hotel Magazine and Anke Bracht.
Furthermore Tel Aviv is endowed with architecual highlights Bauhaus buildings, a beautiful sunken garden and finally you are always surrounded by flowers. Nearby is the Rothschild Boulevard which offers kiosks to stop for treats as you wander along. These kiosks are in fact wooden pagodas surrounded by bar stools upon which the people love to relax and have a coffee.
There are a lot of attractions such as old Jaffa, the Tel Aviv Port many exciting restaurants and bars like the Rothschild 12, where we had too many drinks of wine.
Rothschild 12 has been around for a while but still enjoys a fresh, hip kind of vibe that is shared among the newest nightlife haunts of Tel Aviv. From surprise performances by famous local musicians to literary guest visit from overseas artists, Rothschild 12 always has an interesting line-up for the evening.
You should go to the Yarkon Park, the Dizengoff Centre, this places are are all in wlking distance to the HERODS Hotel Tel Aviv.
We made a walk through the city and saw on our way a few more Bauhaus buildings, which makes Tel Aviv a UNESCO world heritage site
The melange between Aranbian and European culture, the different restaurants and shared working spaces for start-ups makes it a unique spot. At the end of Rothschild Boulevard, you will come to Neve Tzedek a georgeous and the oldest quartier of the city. A good strategy is to have street food during the day. So lunch might be Sabich, a Iraqi import brought to Israel by the mass of Iraqi immigrants. It consists of with fried aubergine, roasted egg, tahini and spicy sauce. Its great by methods of cooking graduating from raw to slow cooked. If you’re looking for a creative modern Israeli dish, try the Chicken Kadaif with smoked eggplant, pistachios and thyme. Israel now produces some nice wines and restaurants usually have a great selection. If you’re unfamiliar with the local labels, Castel is a good choice.
The breakfasts were really nice. You should probably see some art! If the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, was established in 1932 in a building that was the home of Tel Aviv’s first mayor, Meir Dizengoff.
The museum hosts a collection of classical, especially Israeli art, a sculpture garden and it represents leading artists of the first half of the 20th century, works by Pablo Picasso from the Blue and Neo-Class and surrealists works of Joan Miró. The American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein created a giant two-panel mural especially for the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. If you have enough you should visit the ancient city of Jaffa. It is one of the famous oldest ports in the world, the bible mentions Jaffa in the story of Jonah and the whale and its history includes a gamut of colourful figures from ancient Pharaohs to Napoleon. Furthermore it’s the name of the worldwide known Israelian oranges. Tel Aviv’s creative energy is rare to find anywhere else and a pure joy to experience. This is a place where ideas are transformed into reality – where people enact their dreams rather than just talking about them over drinks. For instance, Tel Aviv is home to an insane number of tech start-ups and entrepreneurs – it boasts more per capita than anywhere else on earth. You can feel the energy in the creativity of the cuisine, in the way people dress, the street art, and in the way that life just flows. It is a young and inspiring city and people feel good here.
All in all we had a fantastic time in the hotel and I am in love with the contemporary and glamorous style of the Herods in Tel Aviv.
The presstrip was sponsored by Fattal Group, Leonardo hotels and Biss-Pr / Berlin.
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