Tel Aviv neighborhood listed among world's 'coolest'

Kerem Hateimanim was home to many Jews transported from Yemen in secret operation between 1949 and 1950.

By EYTAN HALON
A WOMAN shops for vegetables at the Carmel market in Tel Aviv. (photo credit: REUTERS)
A WOMAN shops for vegetables at the Carmel market in Tel Aviv.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Tel Aviv’s Kerem Hateimanim and Carmel Market neighborhood has been named among the world’s “coolest” by global magazine Time Out.
According to a survey of 27,000 city-dwellers around the globe and the magazine’s local editors and contributing writers, the Tel Aviv neighborhood was ranked 15th among the “planet’s cultural and culinary hot spots right now.”
Kerem Hateimanim, which literally means “Yemenite Vineyard,” was home to many of the 49,000 Yemenite Jews who were transported to Israel in a secret operation between June 1949 and September 1950.
Today, the neighborhood’s narrow streets are home to a “hotbed of sun-chapped surfers, strolling Filipino caretakers, hungry foodies, global nomadic types and ageless Yemenites hawking home-cooked deliciousness straight out of their ground-floor kitchens.”
While many basic buildings have since been converted into luxurious apartments in recent years, the neighborhood – squeezed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Carmel Market – has succeeded in maintaining its authenticity.
The bustling Carmel Market is in sharp contrast to the tranquil alleyways of Kerem Hateimanim, described by Time Out as “the neighborhood’s coolest hangout.” Offering recommendations of places to eat, drink and stay, the magazine recommends purchasing food and a beverage at the vibrant market and taking a short stroll through the Kerem to Tel Aviv’s sandy beaches.
Lisbon’s Arroios neighborhood, located in the center of the Portuguese capital, fought off competition to be selected as the world’s coolest neighborhood. Home to just over 30,000 residents, Arroios is described as a multicultural parish where “the new coexists with the classic, and diversity is everywhere.”
Following the Portuguese hot spot, Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa, Lagos’s Onikan and Berlin’s Wedding neighborhoods were ranked next as the world’s top leading places to visit and experience like a true local.