Carmel Market שוק הכרמל

Friday afternoon Raz and I made our second trip to the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv. 

This market is wonderful. Dirty, loud, and wonderful. Friday is it's busiest day as people begin their weekend and prepare for the Shabbat dinner. The energy is rich and the array of interesting people provides fabulous people watching. 

There is also an arts market set up on nearby streets. Here you can find everything from handmade jewelry to ceramics, wood carvings to street performers. 

She was amazing, dancing in the air above the crowd, only holding onto a thin piece of fabric for support. It looked so liberating and enjoyable! 

This guy was playing "Bear necessities" from Disney's The Jungle Book. most of the lyrics were replaced with "quack quack quack quack" which is apparently the sound that a mandolin playing frog makes. He was great though, he made everyone smile. 

My favorite part of these markets is the food. There's so much to see and smell, so many things I've never seen before. I love seeing the shops and their keepers and trying new things. This trip I got myself some figs, a new treat for me, but one that's made it's place in my heart. 

Challah! 

See the oval shaped pieces of bread?  In Israel, these are bagels. 

See this dog? In Israel, this is a Bagel dog. 

Great, huh? Raz told me about calling Dachshund's bagel dogs back in Florence, but I didn't understand the connection until I came here and saw the unique shapes of the Israeli bagel. I love it. 

 We decided to get some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice from one of the many shops in the market. 

First he cut the pomegranate in half...

pulled the lever...

Fresh juice! 

Absolutely delicious! 

It took at least 2 pomegranates in each of these little cups. This juice is so refreshing, sweet with the tart dryness of pomegranate seeds. I'm looking forward to going back so we can get some more. 

Bedouin women in the markets make these enormous pitas (brown bubbly things topping the black dome). They're around a foot and a half to two feet in diameter and ultra thin. These women have a beautiful rhythmic spinning of the dough that uses centrifugal force to stretch the dough to its thinnest. Then they flop the dough onto a circular pillow and flip the pillow upside down onto the Tabun (conical black oven). The pita immediately bubbles and cooks to delicious perfection. You can also purchase wonderful tabbouleh (טאבוּלה) and labane, a type of yogurt like unto the Fage greek yoghurts that are gaining popularity in the states. Put these three together and you have a fantastic lunch.