‘Lonely Planet’ cites Tel Aviv as among 2011’s top three tourist destinations

TEL AVIV (Press Release)— If Jerusalem is known as the city in which to pray, then neighboring Tel Aviv is definitely the place to play –– and study — according to travel authority Lonely Planet.

Citing Tel Aviv as one of the world’s top three cities to visit in 2011 — New York claimed the #1 spot, and Tangiers #2 —  the popular travel guide credits Tel Aviv University as “the greenhouse for Israel’s growing art, film and music scenes.”   Its academic renown and campus with a view of the Mediterranean make TAU a popular overseas study location, offering advanced degrees in Middle East studies, international relations, law, the environment, and business, with many courses taught in English.

For TAU students and faculty, asking why they love the city is a bit like asking about the chicken and the egg: which first attracted them?  The university and the city are inextricably intertwined, each feeding the vibrancy of the other.   Tel Aviv is often compared to New York, since it is the heart of Israel’s liberal diversity and serves as its financial, media, cultural and business capital. 

A scientist’s view bears that out.  Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob is a physicist at the Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Exact Sciences with a far-from-ordinary area of research.  Along with teaching students on how to fuse biology with engineering, he’s developed an international reputation for his study of the extremely complex social structure of bacteria. 

Sound esoteric?  Not to the packed audiences of Tel Aviv residents Prof. Ben-Jacob attracts to his popular lectures on topics ranging from basic science to the spirituality he finds in his work.  His lectures embody the community-building goal of Tel Aviv University’s mission, part of a wide-ranging outreach that enriches life in the city.

“I have great audiences,“ he says, ”from high school kids to parents and older members of the public.  It’s wonderful that it’s not just matriculated students who make their way to the campus to learn.”  He likes being able to “help raise the next generation of scientists at an early stage.”

“Students in Israel are mobile, but the students we have on our campus are extra-special, maybe because of their Tel Aviv roots.  It’s a very pleasant and very vibrant city.” 

The Lonely Planet article calls Tel Aviv the flip side of Jerusalem.  Scratch the surface and you’ll find a diverse 21st-century Mediterranean hub, it says: “By far the most international city in Israel, Tel Aviv is also home to a large gay community, a kind of San Francisco in the Middle East.”

Lonely Planet’s assessment, which includes input from the guide’s founder, Tony Wheeler appreciates the city’s architecture and the fact that Tel Aviv’s White City is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.  “Thanks to its university and museums, it is also the greenhouse for Israel’s growing art, film and music scenes,” it observes.

Also voted by Lonely Planet as one of the world’s Top 10 beach cities, “Tel Avivans will tell you it’s the greatest city on earth, so spend a few days and find out why,” the guide reports, highlighting: “Jerusalem may only be 80km up the road, but culturally, socially and psychologically it may as well be a million miles away. While Jerusalemites flock to the holy sites, Tel Avivans hit the clubs. Kippas are swapped for sun visors, gefilte fish for sushi and quarried stone for poured concrete.

“If it’s 3000 years of history you’re after, head for the hills, but if you’re dead set on partying by the Med shores, pack your volleyball and bathing suit and visit the city by the sea.”

The thriving cosmopolitan nature of Tel Aviv is noted by Mark Shein, currently doing an inter-disciplinary doctorate degree at TAU under the supervision of Prof. Ben Jacob and Prof. Yael Heinen from the School of Electrical Engineering. Together they are breaking new ground by connecting electrodes and chips to live neurons.  A city resident for more than a decade, Mark enjoyed an active Tel Aviv social life before his son was born.  He loves Tel Aviv’s liberal, multicultural sophistication.  “You can walk the streets at any hour of the day or night and find life in full swing,” he says.

And TAU and the city cross-pollinate every day, advancing knowledge while enhancing the quality of living.  “Tel Aviv University is a bit different from other universities in Israel.  Our very developed Humanities Faculty, for example, initiates some interesting exchanges between the arts and scientists like myself. 

“Tel Aviv University is a quiet bubble, but one that easily reflects the qualities and style of Tel Aviv –– a beautiful mosaic.”

To read the full Lonely Planet story, visit http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/new-york-city/travel-tips-and-articles/76165

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Preceding provided by American Friends of Tel Aviv University