We had signed on to yet another "Sandemans free walking tour", our fifth on this trip, this time of the Jaffa old town, the original settlement near Tel Aviv. We have done loads of free walking tours over the years but it's only been this year that it seems the only choice is Sandemans. A tour is only as good as a guide and unfortunately this guide was a dry, quoting dates type of guide, this coupled with how hot it was and how little there was to see meant that we bailed early.
We went past some old buildings and some old ruins, as well as some modern sculptures, before we reached Jaffa old town. The old town was a bit underwhelming and there were only tourists around. Save for a few building with some sort of biblical connection it seemed every old building had been converted into an upmarket boutique or shop.
The beach at Tel Aviv is lovely with soft sand and very clean, so we spent the evening at a nice bar sitting on the sand. It's a shame that it cost so much though, two drinks each and two bowls of chips cost us about AUD$100, which includes the 15% service ... it seems Israel very much follows the US model with tipping, we'd been hit with the "the price doesn't include service" a lot.
We didn't stay out too late as we needed to have an early night in preparation for a very long travelling day the next day.
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