Saturday, February 26th

Boats in Port

Rough Sea

Preparing to Surf

Approaching Jaffa

The Sea Mosque

Fountain in Kedumim Square



Statue of Faith in Ha-Pisga Garden

Nuts and Fruit for Sale

View of Tel Aviv

Jaffa Clock Tower

Para-Surfing

I had a great night’s sleep and hopefully will be pretty much operating on Israeli time today with minimal “jet lag.”  After an Israeli breakfast at the hotel, I left for a day of sightseeing that involved walking along the Mediterranean southward toward the ancient city of Jaffa, which is old of the world’s oldest ports.  Archaeologists have found remains dating back to the 20^th century BCE.  According to the Bible Jaffa (called Joppa) was founded by Noah’s son Japheth after the great flood.  The walk along the Mediterranean was beautiful, but the sea was very rough with waves crashing against the rocks and onto the walkway.  There was also a constant strong wind blowing out of the S and the walk toward Jaffa was directly into the wind.  The walkway is all concrete and extends the entire seashore length of Tel Aviv and into Jaffa.  The day was beautiful and sunny with temperatures in the 60’s when I started and 70’s once I returned in mid-afternoon.  Along the way, there was a large section of the shoreline where people were “para-surfing” with large “kites” that caught the wind and carried them across the water and through the waves.  It was very colorful with not a single identical “kite.”  Although was Shabat, almost all of the small seaside restaurants were open along the way.

The view approaching Jaffa was very pretty with the turquoise sea and tan colored buildings of Jaffa.   Jaffa sets on a seaside hill and I approached the old city by climbing the steps that led me past the Sea Mosque, which was the mosque of local fishermen, and then topped out at the Monastery of St. Peter (dedicated, 1891) , which is adjacent to Kedumim Square.  In the square these is a visitors center, which was closed, and a pretty fountain.  Walking further to the top of the hill and the Ha-Pisga garden is the modernistic Statue of Faith (top – Fall of Jerico; left – Jacob’s Dream; right – Sacrifice of Isaac) and superb views across to Tel Aviv.  Heading back toward Tel Aviv along some of the streets of Jaffa took me past the clock tower (1901) that is the symbol of modern day Jaffa.

Back at the hotel, I cataloged my pictures before heading out for dinner at a local fish restaurant located about a block from the hotel.  Different cultures and there are different types of dinners and flavors.  I ordered the St. Peter fish and first got 8 little dishes, like tapas’, that were made up of vegetables/salads (red beets, carrots, garbanzo beans, slaw, potato salad, celery salad) and a couple of cheeses.  Each had its own unique flavored seasonings.  Then came the fish, lettuce salad, and roasted cauliflower/egg plant.  The fish; well it was a whole fish (about 2 lb size) that had been deep fried with a spicy sauce on the side.  All of it was very good.

Tomorrow we head to Jerusalem for a day at the Israel Museum and a selection of historical sites.  Monday we also go to Jerusalem to see and visit more sites.