Aliyah 117: Ralli Museum, Casearia, Israel

Contents2

1. Ralli Museum
2. Aresto Restaurant

Ralli Museum

“Why is this in Israel?”
“How is this in Israel?”
“This wasn’t in the travel brochure, and I read it cover to cover.”
“This is Israel?”

This country is so strange and unpredictable sometimes. The cultural differences within a few miles in Israel sometimes greater than in 2000 miles of the United States. The Ralli Museum is something that could only work in Latin America or Spain – where the other museums are located. The founder of the museums was also the founder of Israeli Discount Bank – a Jew from Salonika, Greece. Actually, I’ve been to Salonika. It might fit there, I suppose.

Casearia, an ancient Roman city along the beach with a smell of saltwater seems like the best place to put a Spanish-style colonnade in Israel, with hints of the Beis HaMikdash (Temple) courtyard:

That’s the Rambam’s backside you’re looking at over there – or, well, his statue. On the other side is Spinoza and it was a bit too hot to read all the names. Through the archway at the end is a monument to Italian Jewry. The fountain the middle is reminiscent of that which was found in the Beis Hamikdash (Template) in Jerusalem.

Here’s another view:

Two weeks ago I was walking through water in complete darkness in a man-made tunnel mentioned in the Bible. There, I paid an entrance fee. Now I’m in a Spanish colonnade and not only is this museum free – there’s no desk at the front door. Just go on in . . .

It’s more like the entrance to a hotel than a museum:

I’d show you pictures of art, though there is very little which is sharable.

Original sculptures from Salvador Dali do whatever it is they do:

. . . and his famous melting clocks apparently were used on his scultures too:

Works from others are just as . . . surreal:

Most of the art, I didn’t take pictures of, and they aren’t the types of works I’d put on my blog . . . almost all of them were sexual in nature. Surrealist. Abstract. Fascinating and annoying all at once. You want to look away, yet there’s more layers perceivable the longer you look.

There was only so much I could take of the sexual stuff though you can look at many, many of the paintings for a half hour, easily, to see the layers the painter has put therein. I’d love to share them though there’s a small risk of that being copyright infringement, though this website is for review purposes and is non-commercial.

Though if there’s anything classical art is good for, it’s training data for AI! Here’s a sample based on such training data – my description of Ninio Carmelo’s Tinglado from 1995:

Not his work, of course. AI is a poor substitute for now.

I don’t even know what I think of this museum. It’s wonderful in so many ways with so much thought-provoking art – and much I wouldn’t look at, e.g. “women in the bible” which depicts artist renditions of scenes in the Torah. Whether violating halacha (Jewish law) or not, I don’t want to see other peoples’ conceptions of what the women in the Torah looked like and have that cloud my view. They also certainly weren’t outside dressed like the women in these pictures – clothing-wise, skin color-wise, and … girth.

Aresto Restaurant

The ancient ruins of Caesaria (Kay-siri-ah in Hebrew) are all around. Built by the Ceasar with a palace and port over the water, much still remains and concerts are even held to this day in the outdoor auditorium. For an entry fee, you can go into the park with all the ruins and whatnot. I’ve written about that before. My yearly parks membership pass expired and so I had to pay … there’s a reduced fee if you’re just going in for the restaurants which is by the honor system. It was about $6/person.

For this restaurant … Aresto … the best, or near best, pasta I’ve eaten in my life, on a plate that looks like grandma’s. It’s “Linguini al Chifulla Rosso” which I pointed to because I can’t say that in Hebrew or English. “Caramelized onion sauce in red wine and brown butter, panko crumble and crispy shallots.” It’s to live for. $29, not including tip.