Tel Aviv - Plenty of great hummus and quality time with family

We've had the most incredible few days in Tel Aviv.

First of all, the beach here is stunning and runs for miles. They have cafe's literally on the sand..meters from the water.

The shopping is also world class and we managed to pick up a painting by a local artist as a momento from this special time in Israel.

Richard's cousins were extremely generous with their time and treated us to a fabulous tour of the city that included eating at a great tapaz resturant near the beach front, going to the local markets (where, by the way, you can purchase 1kilo of cucumers for 25cents!!!), a visit to the old Jaffa train station that has been restored and converted into a fabulous cafe and shopping district and a tour of the old town of Jaffa with it's 4000 years of history. We loved every minute of all this.

After our trip to Jaffa, Richard's cousins took us to a typical Middle Eastern restaurant whereby they attempt to cover every inch of your table cloth is various salads and dips...plenty of hummus of course! The minute you've finished one of these dishes, they just replace it with a fresh bowl of the same thing.

After half an hour of pigging out on this banqette of food, they then bring out a meat of fish dish and it's your job to find a corner of your stomach that's not already stretched to capcity inwhich to store this new food.

We spent half the meal trying to work out how we could start up a restaurant like this in Sydney as our fellow Sydneysiders would LOVE it!!!

On our last night, Richard's cousins took us to an amazing French brasserie and Simone ate the most gourmet hamburger and fries she's ever had.

The food and company were second to none and it was a great end to the perfect few days in this stunning city...we'll be back here for sure!