Photos

The Carmel Market runs alongside the Yemenite Quarter and offers a livelier shopping experience than the usual air-conditioned supermarkets and high street stores that dominate the rest of the city. Large crowds make their way along the street past the dozens of stalls from very first thing in the morning. Sweet-smelling bakeries, exotic fruits and spices, and fresh carcasses hanging from butcher's hooks mix with counterfeit designer clothes and electronic toys. The crumbling old buildings and dark narrow lanes, covered by tarpaulins, make for an atmospheric place to visit. This is as close as Tel Aviv gets to the traditional image of the exotic Middle Eastern souk - loud, lively, colorful and a melting pot of smells, sounds and sights. It's fairly small, with one main street and numerous small alleyways and sidestreets running off it. To be honest, if you've been to souks or markets anywhere else in the Middle East (or Africa or Asia for that matter) this is likely to be a bit dull and disappointing. It's not really that lively, nor is it that interesting or exotic. But then I suppose everything is relative and compared to the rest of modern Tel Aviv this is probably as 'exotic' as you'll find!

But After hour it is a gathering place for the homeless and the unfortunates