Tel Aviv-Yafo, commonly referred to as simply Tel Aviv, is Israel’s second-largest city. It is located on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Tel Aviv has a population of around 460,000 people as of February 2021. A total area of 52 square kilometers is covered by the city. According to a rating released in 2021, Tel Aviv is the world’s most expensive city to live in, as increasing inflation has driven up living prices worldwide. In the official rating compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research, and analysis division of the venerable monthly The Economist, the city raised five rungs to take first place for the first time. The Worldwide Cost of Living Index is calculated by comparing the prices of products and services in US dollars in 173 cities. The strength of the shekel against the dollar, as well as rises in transportation and grocery prices, helped Tel Aviv climb the ranks. “The inflation rate of the prices that we track… across cities is the fastest reported over the last five years,” according to the report. “It has accelerated beyond the pre-pandemic rate, rising by 3.5% on year in local-currency terms in 2021, compared with an increase of just 1.9% in 2020 and 2.8% in 2019.”
We will explain why Tel Aviv is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Additionally, we will state some interesting facts about the city as well. So, without further ado, let’s continue.
1. History of the City
The Yishuv constructed the city in 1909 as a modern housing estate on the fringes of the old port city of Jaffa, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire’s Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. ‘Ahuzat Bayit’ was the name of the association that founded the neighborhood at the time. The following year, it was renamed ‘Tel Aviv,’ after the biblical name Tel Abib, which was used as the title for Nahum Sokolow’s Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl’s 1902 novel Altneuland (“Old New Land”). Other Jewish suburbs of Jaffa, the oldest of which is Neve Tzedek, were built before Tel Aviv and later became part of Tel Aviv.
In 1921, Tel Aviv was designated as a “township” inside the Jaffa Municipality, and in 1934, it gained independence from Jaffa. Tel Aviv began municipal annexation of areas of Jaffa after the 1947–1949 Palestine conflict, which was fully combined with Jaffa under the name “Tel Aviv” in April 1950, and renamed to “Tel Aviv-Yafo” in August 1950. In 1950, two years after the Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in the city, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were united into a single municipality. The contemporary city of Tel Aviv had grown into a major economic and cultural center by the turn of the century.
2. Gold Coin Treasure Saga
The story behind these 23 gold coins, which were concealed in Tel Aviv until 2003, is dramatic. In Palestine, the famed Lawrence of Arabia was damaging Turkish railway tracks. The Turks hired Josef Wennegal, a German Templar living in Sarona hamlet in today’s Tel-Aviv, to assist in the construction of the same rails. In an ironic turn of events, the two became buddies, and Lawrence of Arabia exchanged antiques for 23 French and Turkish gold pieces. The British gave the German Templars 48 hours’ notice to abandon their homes in 1941, in the middle of war. Hugo, Josef’s son, wrapped the cash in a cloth and hid them in the cellar of his home in Sarona late at night, just before he and his family were transported to an Australian prison camp.
The coins were buried for 63 years until Israeli architect Danny Goldman discovered and returned them. Hugo was far too elderly to travel to Israel, but his two children did. As quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald National: ”My children Trudi and Hans traveled to Tel Aviv to formally receive them. I was thrilled. Later, Danny sent me a film and I saw how he jackhammered the wall and made the discovery. It was an emotional moment.”
3. Tel-Aviv’s Kabbalah Center for Jewish Mysticism
The Kabbalah is a Jewish mysticism study that is thought to be the secret or hidden understanding of the Torah, the Jewish holy script. People commonly associate Jewish mysticism with the Israeli city of Safed (Tzfat) in the Galilee and Jerusalem. However, as the home of the world-famous Kabbalah Center, Tel-Aviv draws a large number of travelers. Kabbalah studies have been popular in recent years. You may have heard of celebrities such as Madonna and Britney Spears wearing a crimson string, which is a kabalistic protection talisman. Madonna, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, and James van der Breek are among the celebrities who have visited Tel Aviv’s Kabbalah Center. The Kabbalah Center of Tel Aviv is physically located in Dizengoff Square in one of Tel Aviv’s early Bauhaus buildings.
4. Modern day Tel Aviv
Back in 1909, 60 families gathered on the dunes north of Jaffa for a lottery, which gave birth to Tel Aviv. They congregated in Kerem Gibail, a tract of land purchased three years prior from nearby Arab Bedouins. They needed to get out of suffocating Jaffa. Outside of Jaffa, Jews had already established new communities like Neve Tzedek and Kerem HaTeimanim, but they were built in the typical, Oriental cramped style, with small, winding alleyways. They aimed to establish a modern city, which they named Ahuzat HaBayit – Mansion Manor.
Parks, playgrounds, and four wide, parallel lanes were intended to allow carriages and people to pass comfortably. Herzl Street, the main thoroughfare, would connect them all. All homes would have contemporary plumbing, and lampposts would illuminate the streets at night. A total of 120 seashells were collected and divided into two piles: sixty grey and sixty white seashells. On the grey shells, the names of each of the 60 families were written, and on the white shells, the numbers of each of the 60 plots were written. After that, a boy and a girl chose one grey and one white shell at random, and each family was assigned to one of the plots. That is how modern Tel Aviv was conceived and constructed.
5. The White City of Tel-Aviv
The contemporary city of Tel Aviv had grown into a major economic and cultural center by the turn of the century. The world’s highest concentration of International Style buildings, including Bauhaus and other associated modernist architectural forms, may be seen in Tel Aviv’s White City, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. It refers to a collection of over 4,000 buildings constructed in a unique form of the International Style from the 1930s, with a strong Bauhaus component, by Jewish architects from Germany and other Central and East European countries with German Cultural influences who immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine after the Nazis rose to power in Germany.
6. Tel Aviv Museum of Art
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the city’s principal museum and a prominent light in Israel’s contemporary art scene, houses pieces by Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Henry Moore, Picasso, and Jackson Pollock, as well as the world’s largest collection of Israeli artists’ work. The collection of Alois Breyer’s early twentieth-century prints and architectural designs of Ukrainian wooden synagogues, all of which were destroyed during World War II, is a noteworthy feature. The ultra-modern structure’s exquisite construction appropriately houses and emphasizes the artworks. In addition to the permanent collection, the museum conducts temporary exhibits and other activities regularly.
Tel Aviv Museum of Art was founded in 1932. The Museum’s collection includes works by some of the most important painters of the first half of the twentieth century, as well as many of the major contemporary art movements of the time: Fauvism, German Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Russian Constructivism, the De Stijl movement, and Surrealism, as well as French art from the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists to the School of Paris, including works by Chaim Soutine, key works by Pablo Picasso from the Blue and Neo-Classical periods to his Late Period, Cubist paintings by Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger, several sculptures by Jacques Lipchitz, and Sur.
7. Dizengoff Circle & Surrounds
This prominent plaza, which is constructed out on two levels with a raised pedestrian space above the highway and topped by the unusual modern-art Fire and Water Fountain designed by Israeli artist Yaacov Agam, is the heart of Tel Aviv. Meir Dizengoff, Tel Aviv’s first mayor after the city separated from Jaffa, is commemorated by the plaza and the street that runs off it. Dizengoff Street leads southeast from the circle to Habima Square, Tel Aviv’s cultural center, and home to the Habima Theater, which was completed in 1935. The excellent Helena Rubinstein Pavilion of Contemporary Art, which organizes a program of temporary art exhibits, is also located here.
One of Tel Aviv’s top specialty museums is located on Berdyczewski Street, just off Habima Square. The Joseph Bau House Museum is housed in the home of the well-known Israeli artist and Holocaust survivor. His work is on display throughout the area, including animated films, paintings, and graphic art, and his children lead tours of the venue.
8. Living in a Bubble
You probably didn’t realize that those who live in Tel Aviv are referred to as “living in a bubble” in Israel, implying that we live independently and differently from the rest of the country. In comparison to the rest of Israel, Tel-Aviv has a distinct atmosphere. Israelis are generally kind, pleasant, and speak English throughout the country, but in this city, people are less religious and more hedonistic, as well as much more open, tolerant, and cosmopolitan than the rest of the country. Their English is usually more fluent as Telavivians. They eat out often and frequently enjoy family meals in Tel Aviv’s diverse restaurant scene. They meet for drinks on the beach or at the bustling Tel Aviv port, and go for walks in one of Tel Aviv’s colorful neighborhoods. They never miss an opportunity to attend a good movie or see the most recent stage show at one of the city’s many theatres. They adore and appreciate life.
9. Tel-Aviv is One of the World’s Best Gay Cities
You might not realize it, but Tel Aviv is not only Israel’s gay capital but also the Middle East’s. There is a lively gay culture that is impossible to miss if you are open enough to observe it, whether you are straight, gay, or ‘gay friendly.’ In most parts of Tel Aviv, LGBTQ people feel free to accept and express themselves. The Telavivians are not surprised by this. “Everything in Tel Aviv is gay, inherently gay,” said Leon Avigad, who owns two very chic hotels with his partner Nitzan Perry. “The people are creative, open-minded, liberal, accepting, and daring. Tel Aviv is very open to new forms of art, new musical styles, everything is very accepting.”
The old rule of thumb is that 10% of the population is gay, give or take a few percentage points. Officials in Tel Aviv estimate that 25% of the city’s population is LGBTQ. So, if Tel Aviv has a population of around 460,000 people, that means about 115,000 people identify themselves as LGBTQ in the city.
10. Rothschild Boulevard
This major downtown street features some of Tel Aviv’s most beautiful Bauhaus architecture and is a lovely area to take a stroll, especially in the early evening. There are two museums along the way where you can stop in between, admiring the beautiful structures. The Independence Hall (Beit Dizengoff) is the old home of Tel Aviv’s first mayor and the site where David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence on May 14, 1948. Inside, there is an exhibition of mementos from the event.
Along the road is the Haganah Museum, which documents the Haganah guerrilla group that vigorously opposed British Mandate control and was previously occupied by Haganah Commander Eliyahu Golomb. Inside, there are weaponry displays and information about the Haganah’s activities.
Final takeaway:
I hope you enjoyed the topic and feel compelled to convey your views about this lovely city where people are full of love and the scenery is breathtaking.
