After six months of planning this trip to Israel, I’m finally here. This is day 3 of my three week long trip. The first two days were pretty chaotic. Now the dust has settled and I can finally appreciate my beautiful surroundings. I’m not much of a sight-seer and generally avoid the recommended ‘must-see’ ‘must-do’ tourist activities. This morning was ideal, I had no agenda and decided to loiter on the streets, experiencing everyday Petah Tikvah culture.
Petah Tikva is small city east of Tel Aviv. Now you must know that Israel is a very small country, perhaps just as big as my home city Mumbai. So though it is a separate city, Petah Tikva to me feels more like a suburb of Israel’s capital Tel Aviv. It is a relatively quiet peaceful little town with a sparse population and not much to do.
As it is with all towns, the main market or shouk is the busiest part. But even at it’s busiest, it’s pretty laid back. We planned to grab some breakfast on the way to the shouk. Yesterday I had spotted a small inviting looking bakery and so headed right there, for some freshly made breads. We chose a sweet doughnut, dressed with a little caster sugar. The Israelis make a lot of different kinds of croissants and puffs, influenced by the local sambusac. We picked one stuffed with mushroom and another with potato.The European influence on the food here is very evident. Locals make variants of pretzels, sour dough loafs, Danish pastries etc. To accompany our spoils from the bakery, we had some local filter coffee. Here they drink coffee like the Turks, without filtering the rinds which leaves a muddy residue in the cup.
