It was our last night in Israel, living a #Travelife, and we were set to paint the town red by having dinner at Yaffo Tel Aviv, one of the best restaurants in Tel Aviv, Israel.

We’d driven from the Crammim Resort & Spa just in the hills outside Jerusalem, considered among Israel’s best R&R destinations, where we’d enjoyed three days of spa and relaxation.

I’ve been to almost every top restaurant in Israel, and Yaffo Tel Aviv is still one of my favorite restaurants for many reasons.

HOLIDAY IN ISRAEL

It was difficult to leave this beautiful country of Israel, of course, especially after such a wonderful holiday in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Unfortunately, reality awaited in the form of jobs and responsibilities, so we were set to fly out of Israel the following evening.

So for our last dinner, I put on my favorite black dress and we booked a table at Yaffo Tel Aviv, reportedly the best restaurant in Tel Aviv. It was everything we wanted and more. It had stylish surroundings, a star chef in the kitchen, and a sommelier who brought us some rare finds. It also had hip but efficient waitstaff.

THE KITCHEN COUNTER OF YAFFO TEL AVIV

Initially we were given a table in the center of the room of Yaffo Tel Aviv, which offered an excellent view of the comings and goings around us. But then suddenly we were inspired to sit instead on bar stools and eat right on the stainless steel counters that bordered the open kitchen so we could watch Haim Cohen – perhaps Israel’s best-known chef – and his team in action.

MEMORIES OF A WONDERFUL MEAL

What a happy meal this was. We ordered and shared everything that caught our fancy, and downed these all with a lovely bottle of local red from a boutique winery in Israel that apparently grew its grapes on the rooftops of houses.

Fortunately, this wine that we chose simply because of its interesting provenance was delicious as well. Then the long-awaited rains of Israel started dropping in regular tiny beats just as soon as we had returned to our hotel, growing increasingly intense and aggressive with each minute.

RAIN IN ISRAEL

In all my visits to Israel, living a #Travelife, I’d never seen the rains pour in this manner. Soon, a lively shower had turned into a storm with strong gusts of wind blowing across the sands and waters, worthy more of a Pacific typhoon than a long-awaited rainy evening in Tel Aviv.

The rains continued all night and all the way into the morning as well, although we slept unbothered by the howling outside. Most appropriately, it was the last day of a wonderful holiday in Israel – 14 days of complete sunshine – and so it seemed that even the heavens were sad we were leaving.

VIEWS OF THE BEACH IN TEL AVIV

Interestingly, we were in the most ideal location in Tel Aviv to experience the ferocity of the rains. On a whim and an inspiration weeks before our arrival, you see, we had chosen a charming and well-rated contemporary boutique hotel with the best beachfront location in Tel Aviv, imagining that we would take a last long walk along the Tel Aviv promenade before heading to the airport. And I’d wanted a full-on view at all costs so we’d booked a room with a terrace that directly overlooked Tel Aviv’s famous beach and promenade.

BREAKFAST IN TEL AVIV

For what we got, the hotel room was quite pricey. So you might say that I indeed got what I wanted. Small but impeccably furnished and spotlessly clean, we were tight with my mountain of luggage but happy. At least until the early morning, when the winds blew open the French windows that led to the terrace overlooking the beach.

The winds dragged the room’s long curtains outside in some kind of mad dance while bringing so much water in. The rains made half of our closet of a room wet.

HAPPY LAST MEMORIES OF ISRAEL

This should’ve been a disaster, especially as there was no housekeeper on call to clean up the mess in this 10-room hotel in Tel Aviv. In fact, the only dry space on the bed was about the size of a towel.

But instead we laughed about it. That’s all we’d been doing in Israel, really. Then we arranged the remaining dry pillows into some kind of seating area. Instead of going back to sleep, we talked until morning, exchanging ideas and inspirations on where our next Travelife might take us.

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We landed in Bari in Italy yesterday to start our two week holiday by the sea in sunny Puglia in southern Italy. It was a warm and dry day, and driving out of Bari towards the coast, there was really no scenery to recommend it. But we began it with a nice lunch in the lovely and historic town of Lecce.

WHAT TO DO IN LECCE

But eventually we reached Lecce, a prosperous and ancient Roman town with beautiful architecture. It’s the perfect size. It’s big enough to have some sophistication, but small enough to walk around in in a day and feel happy.

We didn’t have a particular itinerary on this trip to southern Italy, and deliberately so. Practically every hour of my Travelife is usually accounted for because I like seamless trips, and I actually dislike missing out on some great dining and sightseeing experiences just because I didn’t do any advance planning for it.

HOW NOT TO PLAN A HOLIDAY IN ITALY

But just before Italy, I was just way too busy. I’d hosted several lunches and dinner, packed enough work for a month into my only week in Manila between trips, and just had my hands full. So when we arrived in Puglia for our Travelife, I had no maps, guidebooks or printouts.

Just a vague reservation at a hotel I’d never heard of and a document guaranteeing that I had a Jaguar SUV waiting for me at the airport packing lot. I had no idea where to go or what to do.

USING SKYROAM ON HOLIDAY

But everything always works out in a Travelife. With the aid of my Skyroam, I used the two-hour drive to get to Lecce, the biggest city on the coast of Puglia, to check out what to do and where to eat in Puglia on my phone.

This was still a #Travelife, after all, so my requirements for a really good lunch, the real deal gelato and a nice walk around the city were non-negotiable.

THE BEST RESTAURANT IN LECCE

We booked the best restaurant in Lecce for lunch from my phone using a new App I just downloaded. The prices at this local restaurant were about the same as the price for lunch a fancy Italian restaurant in Tokyo. This was rather a surprise, but the food was done in a new style for me and rather nice.

I had a very fresh local buratta from Noci, which is near Bari, to start and a plate of raw seafood caught from the sea a few kilometers away. I order fresh buratta everywhere in Italy when I see it on the menu, by the way, because Italy is the only place in the world you can get the real burrata.

A NEW KIND OF PASTA

The biggest surprise for lunch was a seafood pasta I ordered simply because this entire holiday by the sea will be about seafood. The noodles were homemade and perfectly al dente, and on these rested coarsely chopped raw shrimps and heavy cream, that needed mixing. Then there was just a hint of lemon oil.

This was certainly a combination I would never have thought of. And what a nice surprise on the first day of my holiday in Puglia, and it was definitely an omen of things to come for this holiday on the wild side of Italy, living a Travelife.

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