Tag: Jaffa

Jaffa

Jaffa, the mysterious and ancient city lying just south of Tel Aviv, is a place that I have visited on many an occasion. I have wondered through the old town, tasted various different types of hummus, haggled in the flea market and imbibed the art exhibitions.

Today was a chance to learn about the history of the city, and it really was a fascinating day. Jaffa has its beauty spots: a lovely view down the coast; a grand neo-baroque church; quaint old streets. Still, as sights in Israel go, there is nothing that particularly makes it stand out.

However, there is a great atmosphere in the city, something a little bit edgy, and together with this are a fantastic array of tales going back 3500 years. Our guide was a good story-teller and he painted the picture of the city well as we explored its ancient paths.

Jaffa clock tower
Jaffa clock tower

We began the day at the famous clock tower, built at the beginning of the 19th century. Exploring the square, we learned about the history of the buildings – the old gaol, the former governor’s house, the areas formerly owned by the Greek Orthodox church.

View north up the Mediterranean coastline from Jaffa
View north up the Mediterranean coastline from Jaffa

Continuing up the hill which formed the main part of the original city dating back to the Bronze Age, we enjoyed a lovely viewpoint over the coastline, including Andromeda’s rock. Our guide regaled us with the legend about this underwater ridge, so perilous for sailors attempting to reach the city – there are only two breaks in the rock through which it is safe to enter – they have found many ruins of boats from throughout the ages on the Jaffa sea bed.

St Peter's Church, Jaffa
St Peter’s Church, Jaffa

Moving through the old town and its urban legends, we arrived at St Peter’s Church. According to Catholic tradition, it is built on the site of the home of Simon the Tanner, where Peter stayed while visiting Jaffa. During his visit, he had a grand vision, which ultimately led to the spreading of Christianity into a major global religion after it became possible to encourage non-Jews to adopt the faith. The church, whose construction was funded by the Spanish Royal Family at the end of the 19th century, is a beautiful building, imposing itself on the coastline.

Ruins of a home from the Hellenist period, Jaffa
Ruins of a home from the Hellenist period, Jaffa

Wondering through the streets and hearing yet more tales of Jaffa’s past, we arrived at the appropriately named Jaffa Tales Visitors Centre. The centre does a good job of relating some of the better known stories associated with the city and displays some interesting artefacts.

Before breaking for lunch, we visited the excavations of ancient Jaffa, dating back 3500 years to the Bronze Age. Another great tale was that of Thutmose III, Pharaoh of Egypt, who found an ingenious way to conquer Jaffa during his campaign in the 15th century BCE.

Following a quite fantastic lunch in Guetta, one of my favourite restaurants and masters of Libyan cuisine, we visited the port area, hearing about the history of the sea trade in the area and the recent refurbishment. We also got a good recommendation for ice-cream, although frustratingly no time to verify it. That alone definitely warrants a return visit!

Turning back to the old town, we followed the steps of Napoleon as he broke into the city during his campaign of 1799. Here was time for another tale, although this one had a rather grisly ending.

Grave of Dr Thomas Hodgkin, Jaffa
Grave of Dr Thomas Hodgkin, Jaffa

We concluded the day at a surprising site – the Protestant cemetery of Jaffa. There were quite a few tombs of note, but most unexpected was that of Dr Thomas Hodgkin (he of Hodgkin’s disease fame). He came to the area on a trip with Moses Montefiore, and unfortunately contracted dysentery and was unable to leave.

His tale, together with many others, led to a very fun day. You will have noticed that I have avoided going into too much detail on the stories, but I will be happy to take you around Jaffa in due course and relate them in person!

Old Tel Aviv

Today’s trip was very close to home as we explored ‘Old Tel Aviv’ and learned about the incredible story of the establishment and development of the city I now call home.

However, we actually began the trip in Jaffa. Why? Arguably, without Jaffa, there may have been no Tel Aviv. As the main port into the area, the vast majority of Jewish immigrants arrived in Jaffa as their gateway into the rest of Israel. With the immigration numbers increasing in the 19th century, some Jews decided to put down roots in the city, and a small Jewish quarter was created.

As Jaffa began to get more and more crowded, and conditions less and less sanitary, people began to move out of the city walls, with Arabs mostly moving to the South and Jews founding the area of Neve Tzedek under the patronage of Aharon Chelouche.

American Colony, Tel Aviv
American Colony, Tel Aviv

En route to Neve Tzedek, we stopped first in the American Colony, and heard the sad story of the community from Maine who arrived here in the 19th century only to suffer terribly from poor sanitation and malaria. They lasted less than a year before most of them returned home. They sold their properties to the German Templers who made this their second settlement after Haifa, and managed to make a big economical success out of it by turning it into an area of hotels for Christian pilgrims arriving from Jaffa. German efficiency for you.

Suzan Dellal Centre, Neve Tzedek
Suzan Dellal Centre, Neve Tzedek

Finally arriving at Neve Tzedek, we learned more about its development, although at the time they considered themselves part of North Jaffa rather than anything else. The reasons for moving were practical rather than ideological, although many early Zionist ideologues, thinkers and writers ended up living there including Yosef Haim Brenner, Agnon, Devorah Baron and Rav Kook.

We continued towards Rothschild Boulevard and entered the Shalom Tower, built on the previous site of the Herzilya Gymnasium, the first Hebrew school. I have been in the tower a few times but never noticed the large exhibitions about the history of Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv model inside the Shalom Tower
Tel Aviv model inside the Shalom Tower

Here we learned about a small group of people, led by Akiva Weiss, who left Jaffa, and went even beyond the new neighbourhoods of Neve Tzedek, Neve Shalom and the Yemenite Quarter to establish a new, Hebrew speaking settlement called Achuzat Bayit. The small group of around 60 families were ideologues, looking to build a new modern city. They had wide roads, running water in their homes, an electric street lamp and spacious gardens. The city was soon renamed Tel Aviv and over time became the cultural and economic centre for the Zionist movement.

Eclectic architecture in Tel Aviv
Eclectic architecture in Tel Aviv

There was an exhibition on architecture and we learned about the ‘eclectic’ style that was used in the 1920s and the evolution into the ‘international modernist’ style, which is mostly known now as Bauhaus architecture. In fact, we learned, Bauhaus was a design school, influenced by the international modernist movement, which taught architecture among other things. When Hitler closed it down several of its former students moved to Tel Aviv, influencing the buildings.

UNESCO deemed this worthy of making the city a world heritage site, known as the White City; the international modernist movement with its clean, functional design marked an important turning point in the history of architecture, but in most cities where you can find it exemplified there are one or two buildings dotted around. As Tel Aviv was a new city, it is the only place where this architecture really is everywhere.

We headed back to Rothschild and the former home of the first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. In 1948 this was the site of the Israeli declaration of Independence, and it is now a museum commemorating that momentous event.

Independence Hall
Independence Hall

I have been to the Independence Hall a few times and it never fails to get the heart racing. The story leading up to the declaration is, frankly, incredible; both in terms of the long term story and the immediate events of the declaration (for example, the guy with the declaration couldn’t get a taxi to the event and had to flag down passing cars to arrive on time). I love going back there, sitting in the hall and listening to the recording of the declaration.

The original Tel Aviv Municipality Building, Bialik Square
The original Tel Aviv Municipality Building, Bialik Square

We returned to Rothschild and wandered down the boulevard, our guide pointing out various buildings of historical interest. We then walked up to Bialik St, passing the former homes of the famous artist Rubin and the national poet Bialik, whose home gives the street and the square at its end their name.

After a brief stop in Gan Meir, we walked to the Trumpeldor cemetery, built at the time by Chelouche of Neve Tzedek fame at a suitably distant location from people’s homes – he was sure the houses would never reach this far….now it is bang in the city centre!

Grave of Ahad Haam, Trumpeldor Cemetery
Grave of Ahad Haam, Trumpeldor Cemetery

The cemetery contains the final resting places many of the great names of Zionist history: writers and thinkers such as Brenner, Ahad Haam, Bialik, Nordau, Baron; activists such as Sharett, Dizengoff, Golomb, Dov Hoz. People are still buried here and we saw the grave of the great singer Shoshana Damari. She sadly died penniless but her artistic friends clubbed together to buy her a plot in this cemetery.

We heard the stories of many of these founding fathers/mothers of the Israeli state, together with the sad story of the riots in 1920-1 in Jaffa which led to several deaths – some were buried in a mass grave; Brenner was also killed in the riots and can be seen separately.

Our final stop of the day was at the Opera Towers, at the end of Allenby. I was surprised to learn that here was the site of the first Knesset (the Israeli parliament) before Ben Gurion moved it to Jerusalem. If you enter the shopping centre, you can see a picture there of the Knesset in session.

A great time was had getting to know my home city and now I have plenty of information with which to entertain family and friends on their visits!