Modesty is everthing. Until you get to Tel Aviv...

After the Old City of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv was a culture shock! We had got used to wandering down winding laneways, battling locals for space (including cars and trucks at times! How they do that, we'll never know!) and taking in the sights and sounds of markets that seem to come from another era (until you see the shopkeeper on his iPad...)

Tel Aviv. A little piece of Melbourne in the Middle East. Except cleaner.

We had an early start this morning, knowing it was our day to switch cities.

Up at 6, out of the hotel in Old Jerusalem at 7, and off to the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.

Our tour is taking us to the Wall, so we bypassed it, and went to the Dome.

Amazing.

Being non-Muslims, we were not allowed in (we got turned away three times in three days from different entry points), but it's well worth the effort to go to the compound to have a look. The ceramic tiles that cover the building, along with the golden dome, have to be seen to be believed.

We battled off a few locals who were trying to sell themselves as tour guides. We have developed quite a skill for navigating the old city and may give our tour-mates some tips when we hit that area in a few days. We were also unwilling to part with any more shekels, since we had to pay a big taxi bill to get to Tel Aviv.

Trip to the Dome over, we headed back to the hotel, picking up some fresh bread and bottled water on the way.

Then it was one last trip to the roof to see the incredible view, and lugging our many bags (much heavier than just days before) down the stairs to the lobby.

Our taxi driver arrived to escort us to his cab. Word of advice -- you will be ripped off if you book one between cities. We paid 350 shekels, which adds up to about $75. It's cheap by Melbourne standards, but by local standards, it seems a bit steep.

Anyway -- hotel? Fabulous!

We were upgraded to adjoining rooms, each with its own ensuite and large flat screen tv and tea service!

After squeeing over our rooms, we hit the beach.

The water here is warm -- so much warmer than at home!

And modesty? What's that? While you rarely saw anyone in Old Jerusalem even in a t-shirt (except the young Muslim men and the children) people of all shapes and sizes are getting around in bikinis and budgie smugglers here! Even in the hotel lobby. Our friends in our last hotel would have died of shock at the sight of that!

Once we'd wrinkled our toes enough, padding in the water, we decided to hunt for food.

We are now Teletubbies in Tel Aviv. We are so full we can't walk. We've been waddling!

The reason? We wandered past a cafe and stopped for a bit of a look. The owner came out and asked if we wanted falafel (apparently that's all the tourists eat...  and our backpacks gave us away!)

So in we went, for an amazing falafel and bottles of coke.

The saying 'it's a small world' has never been more appropriate than today. Chatting to the owner, it turns out he's related to the people who own the hotel we stayed in in Old Jerusalem. What does that mean? Bring on the free food! He insisted we try the falafel balls free of charge. Then he brought out the most incredible hummus and pita bread. You have no idea...  the hummus was like velvet... divine... We ate so much free food that we could hardly move!! He even asked us if we wanted to come back tonight, and if we did, dinner would be on him. We told him that wouldn't be possible (to be honest, we couldn't face another meal today!) We did however promise to visit on our next trip to Tel Aviv in a few days, and took him a sweet, chocolatey challah as a thank you.

Wandering through one of the more upmarket cafe strips, we found 90 shekels lying on the ground. It's probably small change to the person who dropped it, but having been in Old Jerusalem where so many have so little, we thought it was a significant amount of cash.

Being big believes in the theory that what goes around comes around, we took it in to the nearest cafe, where the waitress seemed surprised and thanked us for our honesty.

Deciding we'd had enough of feeling hot and gross, it was time to get back to the hotel for a swim in the pool.

We. Have. A. Pool.  (Complete with cute lifeguard - Nur)

And we love it.

A bunch of people just arrived in the lobby and we're thinking they may be our tour group. Hmm. We're hearing American and South African accents, while classical music plays in the background.

We meet them officially at 7.45 tomorrow, then it's off to Masada and the Dead Sea. Those blisters are due for a Dead Sea beating... which will NOT be fun!

For now, we're taking our tired, sore, walked-to-the-bone feet to the beach to soak while we eat figs for dinner....