Day 5 - Monday, March 13, 2023 - Jaffa and Tel Aviv

 After breakfast this morning we headed out on the bus with our Road Scholar group, driving through the city to Jaffa. Tel Aviv and Jaffa had been separate cities but they merged to form the Tel Aviv - Yafo municipality.

Jaffa is an ancient city which was under Egyptian rule around 1300BC, monumental remains of which have been discovered in Jaffa in recent years. Jaffa has interesting historical connections in the bible. Job left Jaffa trying to ignore God's order to go to Nineva. After being thrown overboard for causing distress to the ship he was on, he was swallowed by a whale / huge fish and after being vomited up, then went to Nineva, telling people to repent. Jaffa was the port where the cedars from Lebanon arrive to build Solomon's Temple (First Temple). In the book of Acts, Jaffa is where Peter healed Tabitha and stayed with Simon the tanner. It is also where God told Peter that no food was "unclean", changing the Jewish food restrictions.

We wandered through the stone streets and stairs of Jaffa, stopping at the house where Simon the tanner allegedly lived. (The current house is not the actual one he stayed in). Our tour guide said the woman currently living there didn't like tourist stopping in front and the last time, used a hose to spray water on the tour group! We didn't get that close! On my previous tour here, we spent more time in Jaffa but our guide wanted instead to make an additional stop in the White City which we visited and I described on Saturday.

The photo of the hanging Jaffa Orange tree below is significant because of the importance of Jaffa Oranges which were bred by Arab farmers in the mid-19th century to have a thicker skin which allowed them to keep and ship better. This opened a large market in Europe and was a major source of export income.

We then went to the Sarona Market with is a large indoor market with many food services. Carmen had falafel in a pita and I had Shawarma in a pita, both of which were very good. We then stopped at King Halvah so I could buy halvah to bring back - I had gone there on my previous trip.

Then back to the hotel to read the Kingston Daily Freeman and relax a bit. One weather forecast is predicting 6-14" of snow, the most this year. Hopefully it will all melt by the time we get back.😀

We went back to the beach for a drink, relax reading magazines we brought with us and at least get my feet wet.

Before dinner we had a talk with an Israeli historian about modern Israel history and the most current political instability. Just 2 days ago, 500,000 people in Tel Aviv were protesting against the government attempts to weaken the Supreme Court.

 

Getting feet wet in the Mediterranean Sea
Carmen enjoying an "Aperol Spritzer" at the beach
(We don't really spend all our time drinking at the beach😀)

House of Simon the Tanner (couldn't get close)

Our guide Yonatan with hanging Jaffa Orange tree


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