Jaffa is old. Really old. The port has been in use for at least 4,000 years, making it one of the oldest functioning harbors in the world. Egyptian records mention it. The Bible mentions it multiple times. Jonah set sail from here before his encounter with the great fish: “Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Jaffa, where he found a ship” (Jonah 1:3). The cedars of Lebanon were floated here for the construction of Solomon’s Temple: “We will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and will float them in rafts by sea to Joppa” (2 Chronicles 2:16). And the Apostle Peter had his vision of the clean and unclean animals in a house on the Jaffa shore, a vision that opened Christianity to the gentile world (Acts 10:9-16).
Layers
Jaffa has been conquered by Egyptians, Philistines, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, Napoleon (briefly, in 1799), the British, and finally incorporated into the State of Israel. Each conqueror left traces that are still visible in the stone. Walking through Old Jaffa is walking through a compressed history of the eastern Mediterranean.
Old City
Old Jaffa, perched on a hill above the harbor, is a maze of stone alleys, galleries, and restaurants that has been restored with care. The Franciscan Church of St. Peter marks the traditional site of Simon the Tanner’s house, where Peter stayed and received his vision: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15). The ancient harbor, now a small fishing port and restaurant area, is where Jonah boarded his ship and where Solomon’s cedars came ashore. The hilltop park, with its views of the Tel Aviv skyline to the north, is one of the most pleasant spots in the city.
Clock Tower
The Jaffa Clock Tower, built by the Ottomans in 1903 to mark the 25th anniversary of Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s reign, stands at the entrance to the old city. It is one of seven clock towers built across Ottoman Palestine and serves as the visual boundary between Tel Aviv and Jaffa.
Flea Market
The Jaffa Flea Market (Shuk HaPishpeshim) is one of the best markets in Israel. Antiques, vintage furniture, jewelry, and street food fill the narrow streets, and the area has become one of Tel Aviv’s hottest dining and nightlife destinations. The combination of crumbling Ottoman architecture and trendy restaurants creates an atmosphere that is unique to Jaffa.
1948
The history of Jaffa in 1948 is painful and complex. Before the war, Jaffa was a predominantly Arab city of approximately 70,000 people, the cultural and economic center of Arab society in the land. During the fighting, most of the Arab population fled, and the empty city was absorbed into the new municipality of Tel Aviv. The Arab community of Jaffa today numbers a few thousand, and the neighborhood of Ajami, south of the old city, is a mixed Arab-Jewish area where gentrification and displacement continue to generate tension.
Andromeda Rock
Just offshore from the ancient port, a cluster of dark rocks juts out of the shallow water. Ancient sources — Pliny the Elder, Strabo, Josephus, and Pausanias — identified these rocks as the place where the princess Andromeda was chained by the sea god Poseidon and rescued by the hero Perseus, who slew the sea monster and married her. Josephus wrote that the marks of Andromeda’s chains and the bones of the monster were still shown to visitors at Joppa in his time. The myth underscores Jaffa’s extraordinary antiquity: this was a city so old that even the Greeks wove it into their legends.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Jaffa is the perfect complement to Tel Aviv. Hoshen Tours walks the old city, the port, the flea market, and the history, connecting 4,000 years of story in a single afternoon. Because Jaffa was here long before Tel Aviv, and the old port city has stories that the modern metropolis is still learning to tell.