Tel Aviv, Election Day 2013

Election Day is a holiday in Israel. After the snow and sleet of two weeks ago, it was a little weird to sit on a breakwater in Tel Aviv. My husband had to work in the morning. I met him at the bus station and we went to Tel Aviv for the afternoon and early evening. The rest of the world seemed to have the same idea, to head for the beach. And the picnic areas and the parks…. We don’t have a “weekend” in Israel, so a vacation day like Election Day isn’t something to waste!

I took the first photo when we were sitting on the rocks of the breakwater. A young couple were sitting very close to the water. I got this shot as a sailboat was going by and underexposed it because I was shooting almost directly into the sun. I cropped out the sun on the right because I didn’t want the brightness to dominate the scene.

The next photo shows a couple windsurfers outside the breakwater.

Two of three kayakers outside the breakwater.

Wind-surfing school within the breakwater, close to shore.

Fisherman showing off his catch.

This building, known locally as the Crazy House, is a private apartment building at 181 haYarkon, designed by Leon Gaignebet in 1985. It’s also called a Gaudi building, although Gaignebet rejected the comparison. (Personally, I see it as derivative Art Nouveau, but not particularly Gaudi-esque–maybe they just needed an easy-to-remember name.) The photo below was taken from the beach, so it only shows the top two stories. It does show the roof in more detail than most photos of this building. It’s an interesting, somewhat pretentious design, representing the sea meeting the desert. The eastern façade uses stone and concrete and images of trees. The western façade, facing the Mediterranean, is supposed to represent the sea and sand dunes but looks like a giant sheet full of holes wrapped around an ordinary apartment block.

Photographed from across Eliezer Peri at night. Not a good photo. I might try photographing this building by daylight next time I’m in Tel Aviv. Note the fence in front of the building, which echoes the design of the façade.

Bench in same style, across the street from the apartment building:

Trompe l’oeile painting on Arlozoroff Street (corner of Ibn Gabirol).

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