How It's Different Here in Herzlia (Pictures)

I have two posts' worth of pictures at least, so let's get started! Herzlia is an odd mix of colonial and ultra-modern/posh, old-style and ultra-hip. My grandmother still lives in the same apartment that the family moved into, new, after a few years of more minimal accommodations when they first moved here from Iraq. All around this small apartment building, taller, more luxurious ones took the place of trees and single story houses through the course of my childhood and teens.

There are still one or two single story houses on her block, surrounded with a riot of beautiful foliage.

The concept of one-stop shopping has not arrived, in this town, at least. There is a supermarket, but it's pretty small and has nowhere near the breadth of inventory that an American supermarket would have. There are several fruit and vegetable stores--I'm so happy it's persimmon and pomegranate season!

It's also guava season--you can smell them half a block away but they rarely taste as good as they smell.

Several stores, too, with bulk olives, dried fish, fresh cheese...

And this store is perhaps the most bizarre to me of all. It looks like nothing at all on the outside--no sign, opaque glass so you can't see in, dark in the foyer of the central bus station...

...and yet there's almost always a line of people out the door! What are they buying? All kinds of bulk goods--grains, beans and nuts in sacks on the floor, all kinds of spices in glass jars behind the counter, individually wrapped candies in plastic platters, and some shelves of canned goods--the ubiquitous tomato paste, tahini, date syrup, and some canned veggies. So, even foodwise, you don't just go to the supermarket.

And there are specialized stores--for photography (the store is still called "Limonchik," although Mr Limonchik died some time ago), for carpets, for clothes, shoes...even mechanical items have separate stores--radio store, gas grill store, air conditioning store...

I took this picture because it shows the kind of juxtaposition of old and new buildings typical for this town.

The store in front is an old two-story building with a corrugated roof messily tacked on for a shed at the side. Behind it are some slightly newer three-story apartment buildings, prettied up with some roof gardening on top. And behind those, the big white high-rise with the posh modern design.

Here's another picture which really captures the essential spirit of the place--

an abandoned trailer, a mess of sand, walls of unkempt foliage, and a cascade of bright bougainvillea against a tumbledown building.

The occasional leftover single story buildings look like little oases. Otherwise, there's a general impression of a lot of people piled up in not a lot of space. Parking can be a nightmare.

It's olive season. There were olives all over the sidewalk for this stretch of road.

This isn't a great picture, but hopefully you can see the individual olives here.

These trees with their papery Chinese lantern blooms are everywhere.

New since I was last here--recycling! There are signs up around everywhere saying "Keep Herzlia Clean" and "It Pays to Recycle." It's not a fully organized endeavor--the dumpsters outside my grandmother's building still simply take undifferentiated trash--but there are cages like this for plastic bottles at regular intervals. I actually think it looks kind of pretty, and would never have guessed that refuse could be aesthetically pleasing.

I'll share more soon. It's still raining here off and on but there always seems to be a break in the downpour to fit in a walk or run.