A new walking trail connecting key heritage sites will launch in Tel Aviv next month to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel.
The kilometre-long path, which aims to tell the story of Tel Aviv’s beginnings and the run-up to independence, will start at the First Kiosk of Tel Aviv, an iconic building at the corner of Rothschild and Herzl boulevards in Neve Tzedek.
This was the first neighbourhood to be established in the city a century ago.
The gold-edged trail will then proceed along Rothschild Boulevard past landmarks including the Nahum Gutman fountain, the Akiva Aryeh Weiss house, the Great Synagogue, Haganah Museum and Independence Hall.
Visitors will be able to learn through a mobile app about the stops on the trail as it guides them past the Shalom Meir Tower, a statue of Meir Dizengoff and the Bank of Israel visitor centre.
At each stop, interactive pages will appear on the phones of app-users providing “rich historical content and background on the surrounding area”, a spokesperson from the Tel Aviv-Yafo mayor's office said.
The path, she added, will be illuminated at night.
Those who prefer a map to an app will be able to pick one up from the city’s tourist offices and follow it in English French, Spanish, German, Chinese or Russian – in addition to Hebrew and Arabic, which are Israel’s two official languages.
The Independence Trail is a joint project of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage.
The project ties in with Israel’s new campaign promoting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as a single, two-centre holiday destination.
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