Jaffa, Sunday

The Mediterranean Sea from Jaffa with
Tel Aviv in the background

This morning we took a tour to Jaffa, a truly amazing place.  It is now part of Tel Aviv although it existed for centuries before Tel Aviv was even a gleam in its founders' eyes.  The drive down is along the beautiful coast which is reminiscent of Marseilles with many bathing beaches.  The beaches are public with one exception which is a "religious" beach where men bathe three days of the week and women three days.

Modern Tel Aviv from Old Jaffa

Jaffa is an ancient port city, possibly the oldest in the world.  It is mentioned in both the old and the new testaments. It is one of the cities given to the Hebrew Tribe of Dan as port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for Solomon's Temple, it was the place whence the prophet Jonah embarked for Tarshish and was the port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for the Second Temple of Jerusalem.

Old Street in Jaffa

For Christians Jaffa is particularly interesting because at the house of Simon the Tanner. The Apostle, Peter, raised Tabitha from the dead.

Street Sign in Old Jaffa

On March 7, 1799 Napoleon I of France captured the town in what became known as the Siege of Jaffa, ransacked it, and killed scores of local inhabitants. Napoleon ordered the massacre of thousands of Muslim soldiers who were imprisoned having surrendered to the French.

Modern Jaffa is still very much the city of ancient times.  It has three Synagogues, three Churches and three Mosques. It is an amazing feeling to walk on stones that have been in the narrow alleyways for more than 2,000 years.

Old Jaffa Synagogue

In the afternoon we went to the Israeli Diamond Centre.  This is the biggest diamond centre in the world, eclipsing Antwerp.  Here diamonds are bought, sold, cut and polished.  There is a very interesting museum with displays of famous diamonds as well as interesting stones and designs.