Tel Aviv-Jaffa Attractions

At the southeast corner of the University campus in Tel Aviv is the Diaspora Museum (Beit HaTefuzot, the "House of the Dispersion"), founded in 1979, which illustrates the life and culture of Jews in different countries at different times with the help of films, recordings, models, a computer and a wide variety of exhibits.

Opinions on Tel Aviv differ widely. To some it is a noisy and unbeautiful city, to others the lively modern metropolis of Israel. It is true that some parts of the city, particularly the outer districts, are not particularly attractive; but the central area between the sea and Ibn Gvirol Street, with its functional buildings in the international style, is handsome and imposing.

Most of the hotels - all of them in the luxury category - are on Hayarkon Street, which runs parallel to the coast, and its continuation to the south, Herbert Samuel Street (though farther south the hotels begin to become less exclusive). The principal business and shopping quarter is round Dizengoff Street and Circle. There are also numbers of smaller shops in Allenby Street, Southwest of which is the Newe Tzedek quarter, the oldest part of the town, with narrow little streets and low houses. Farther south is the old town of Jaffa (Yafo). The northern part of Tel Aviv, beyond the river Yarqon, is very different, with handsomely laid out residential districts and large parks and gardens.

14km/8.5mi south of Tel Aviv is Rishon LeZion, one of the earliest Jewish agricultural settlements, founded in 1882.

Shalom Road (Derekh Hashalom) in Tel Aviv runs 3km/2mi south to the campus of Bar Ilan University, founded in 1955 and named after a leader of orthodox Jewry. In all faculties particular importance is attached to Jewish religious studies.

The interior of Ben Gurion's house in Tel Aviv has been left largely as it was when David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula lived there. It also displays part of his library and numbers of his letters.

To the east of Ramat Gan is the suburb of Bene Beraq, founded by orthodox Jews from Poland. Education in line with their beliefs is provided in a number of Talmudic schools.

In Bialik Street in Tel Aviv, we come to the busy and colorful Carmel Market, just southwest of the intersection with Allenby Street.

Adjoining the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion in Tel Aviv is the Frederic Mann Auditorium (Hekhal Haturbut), home of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. With seating for 3,000, it is Israel's largest concert hall.

From the Dizengoff Circle, Dizengoff Street runs southeast to Habimah Square, the cultural center of Tel Aviv. In this square is Israel's National Theater, the Habimah Theater, built in 1935. Originally founded in Moscow in 1917, the theater moved to Tel Aviv in 1928. There are two houses, seating respectively 1,000 and 300. Plays are normally performed in Hebrew, with simultaneous translation available on headphones.

From the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv we follow Allenby Street south to the Great Synagogue (1926), at the corner of Ahad Ha'am Street, and the Haganah Museum, in a house at 23 Rothschild Boulevard once occupied by the Haganah commander Eliahu Golomb, which displays weapons used by the Jewish army during the British Mandate.

Immediately north of the Habimah Theater in Tel Aviv, in the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion, is a branch of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which puts on temporary exhibitions of works by modern artists both Israeli and foreign.

Close to the Haganah Museum in Tel Aviv, at 16 Rothschild Boulevard, is Bet Dizengoff, the former residence of Tel Aviv's first mayor. Here can be seen the Independence Hall in which David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the state of Israel on May 14th 1948. There is a display of mementos of the historic event.

Going southwest from the Dizengoff Circle in Tel Aviv along Pinsk Street and turning right into Trumpeldor Street, we come to the Old Cemetery, with a common grave containing the remains of victims of the 1921 troubles and the tombs of leading Zionists like Chaim Arlosoroff, Meir Dizengoff and Max Nordau and the poets Chaim Nahman Bialik and Shaul Tchernikowsky.

The house of the artist Reuven Rubin at 14 Bialik Street in Tel Aviv is now a museum, with a collection of his works.

The Safari Park in Tel Aviv is an area of 100 hectares (250 acres) in which African animals roam freely.

Rothschild Boulevard runs into Herzl Street, the first street built in 1909 in the newly founded town of Tel Aviv. At its north end was the Hebrew grammar school which bore the name of Theodor Herzl, pulled down in 1958 to make way for Tel Aviv's first high-rise building, Migdal Shalom (Peace Tower). Mainly an office block, this also houses a shopping center and a wax museum. From the viewing platform at 132m/433ft there are wide panoramic views.

The Heder Contemporary Art Gallery in Tel Aviv exhibits the works of Israeli and international artists in a variety of media, including sculpture, painting, photography, video, and performance. The gallery features changing exhibits throughout the year.

From the Eretz Israel Museum University Road leads to the University of Tel Aviv, which offers the widest range of disciplines in Israel.

Some 700m/770yds northeast of Habimah Square, in Sderot Shaul Hamelech (King Saul Boulevard), is the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (by J. Yashar and D. Eitan, 1971), which contains works by leading Israeli and foreign artists, including Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Chagall, Kokoschka, Léger, Henry Moore and Picasso.

The museum contains the world's largest collection of Israeli Art.

The construction of a new building is underway with scheduled completion in 2011.

Southeast of the cemetery in Tel Aviv, in Bialik Street, is the former Town Hall, now housing the Museum of the History of Tel Aviv Jaffa (documents on the history of Tel Aviv).