I biked my way around Tel Aviv almost every single day. Thanks to Tel-O-Fun (the citywide bike rental system), it’s cheap and accessible to anyone. But the bike tour took us to important historical and cultural sites I would never have otherwise known or noticed navigating on my own. Our local guide Amit Musaei gave us impactful and dramatic doses of history with every landmark that we passed…
At Habima Square with Amit our guide and cousin KristenBiking out of the bike garage at our starting point: Abraham Hostel
Duration: 3 hours
Price: 30€ / 33$
We began the tour cycling through Rothschild Boulevard’s tree-lined pathZionist pioneers planned a Tel Aviv thoroughfare to match the boulevards of Paris. (Times of Israel)Menashe Kadishman’s “Uprise” sculpture at Tel Aviv’s Habima SquareNormally this sculpture is all brown, but we were lucky that we were there right after the Purim Festival, when the whole city dresses up – including this landmark!Amit – who happens to be around my age – is a well-travelled, well-educated Israeli who knows the country like the back of his handAmit explains the hiking signage which he was familiar with having hiked the Israel National Trail which crosses the entire country from Egypt to Lebanon (1,025 km in total)Holocaust memorial sculpture by Yigal Tumarkin in Rabin square
Written on the Holocaust and Revival Monument by sculptor Yigal Tumarkin:
When I began designing this monument, which for the Jewish people contains two themes that are so powerful, so polarized, and so intertwined, and had to articulate them in a visual-plastic, and not literary form, I wanted to convey deep physical distress that is liberated and bursts with joy. I thought about a cage – a prison that is unlocked and broken out of: an inverted pyramid and, whoever enters it, is trapped in its narrow and oppressive base. The prison bars gradually open up towards a higher place, and the prisoner discovers the blue skies, the sun and the light above him.
At Rabin Square we learned about the life and death of one of the world’s most courageous warriors for peace: Yitzhak Rabin, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to advance the Israeli-Palestinian Peace ProcessThese tiles recall the pattern made by half a million flowers rolled out in central Tel Aviv back in 2009. The installation was a gift from the city of Brussels for TLV’s 100th birthdayA quirky habit of TLV locals – hanging their wine bottle corks on this tree. Can anyone shed light on this ritual?!I wish I had gone back to Hayarkon Park to chill, read a book, rent a paddle boat, play sports, cycle around…We only grazed the edge of the park before moving on to Tel Aviv PortAt Tel Aviv Port, a wide boardwalk overlooking the sea, we took a break to grab a snack.As we did the tour in ‘winter’, our schedule was from 11am-2pm. That gave us time after to bike along the sea south to Jaffa. It was enjoyable just seeing what the locals were up to along the beach, from traditional dance to watersports…
Would I recommend the Tel Aviv Bike Tour?
If you enjoy a day out learning about history in a casual and friendly atmosphere, then by all means. You get the bicycle all to yourself for the rest of the day as well, until 9pm, which is a steal! 🙂
Morena Travels 
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