Historical place turned into a recreational spot. Nothing wrong with that , especially that there's due respect given to history here. It's just the trend of things nowadays that needs to be mentioned - every available space turns into a complex of food, recreation and real estate.
Sarona is such a complex. It's new and attractive, in the city of Tel Aviv, close to main roads, with lots of parking places. It used to be an army base, and long before that a templar colony. (The templars were pios german christians who established an agricultural settlement on the west bank of the Ayalon river in 1871. They were exiled to Germany and Australia in 1930 by the british forces who controlled the land at that time).
main street
Visitor's Center and Info Center in the background
The complex (see the header - guide map to visitors- to get an idea), comprises an indoor food market (rather crowded and stuffy for my taste) placed under several residential towers - and a fairly big open space with little streets named after army generals , an urban park with grass lawns and flower beds, spots for picnics, for public events, and of course, children's playgrounds.
residential towers
entrance to indoor market
indoor cake stand and vegetable stand
indoor bakery products
There are of course, designer shops, art galleries, resto- bars and cafeterias - housed in the templar homes scattered around the open area.
There's also a visitor's center , an information center, an olive oil press, an underground cave built by the templars as a wine press, a nice W.C. structure. (I haven't seen though any cool water facilities which in summer are a must).
book store "Tzomet Sefarim"
olive oil press
"Caffeneto"
It was a bit cloudy outside when I visited there, and yet things around looked bright and colorful.
What I liked mostly about the place was the music diffused through some small , flat round devices in certain areas of the park. You can sit on a bench and listen to original hebrew songs on various themes. As always, music takes things to a higher level.
resting and listening to music
see the round devices on the soil , difussing music
outside the cafeteria with flowers and music
