Introduction

Skimming the tops of skyscrapers and hotels that line the seashore, it's hard to believe that Tel Aviv was merely a mound of sand a century ago. Combining the funkiness of Brooklyn, chicness of Paris and congeniality of San Francisco, plus miles of Mediterranean coastline, Tel Aviv is considered literally and figuratively the centre of Israel.

Tel Aviv is a rags to riches story. The 'Hill of Spring' was the first Jewish settlement in modern Israel, its struggle and success resonate throughout the streets, which for the best part are named after mayors and founders of the last century as opposed to Biblical heroes. Despite rapid modernisation one gets the sense that the city's pulse is set not by the pretty young things on the beach, but by the old men with fishing poles dipped into the sea.

The sprawling urban mass of central Tel Aviv is vast but surprisingly walkable. It's possible to pick up some fresh fruits and veggies for a picnic at the popular Carmel Market, peruse at the artwork on Nachalat Binyamin Street, shop at the trendy Sheinkin and King George Streets, and pay homage to the Diezengoff Centre, home of Tel Aviv's towering mall.

Rothschild Boulevard (pronounced rotes shield by Israelis), was one of the first streets created in the city; a tree-lined walking and cycling path down the centre is dotted with restaurant kiosks, which are always full of twenty and thirty-something's. An entire visit to Tel Aviv could be spent simply wandering from café to juice bar to restaurant, observing the locals and taking in a wide selection of cuisine.

Tel Aviv is truly an old new land, steeped in history but young at heart.