Jaffa, a favorite tourist area in the southern part of Tel Aviv, was once an independent town - one of the oldest in the world.

The place is really very ancient: in the XV century BC, captured his Pharaoh Thutmose III considered it an event worthy of praise written. During the three centuries before the siege of Troy helped Egyptians same ruse: they sent the townspeople nagruzhёnnyh gifts of camels, but the baskets were armed soldiers.

Jaffa is mentioned four times in the Old Testament - for example, in the port-fit in rafts cedars of Lebanon for the construction of Solomon's temple. Hence began his journey the prophet Jonah. Jaffa appears in the New Testament is the apostle Peter raised Tabitha his pupil. In the Hellenistic period in the city were the troops of Alexander the Great, in the Jewish War Romans burned down Jaffa.

In 636, the Arabs captured Jaffa, the revival of the port. For him, beat Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. In the XIV century the Muslims for fear of new crusades again destroyed the city. Even at the end of the XVI century Jaffa represented an heap of ruins. Rebuilt it in the XVII century, the Ottoman Turks began: they restored the Christian churches and inns on the way to Jerusalem and the Galilee. In 1799, Napoleon invaded the Holy Land - he captured Jaffa, his troops made a terrible massacre there, then plague struck the city. Life returned here only after many years.

At the beginning of the XX century, several dozen families bought plots of land in the dunes north of the Old Port: there they decided to build the first Jewish city in Palestine. Thus was born the modern Tel Aviv, which later became part of the ancient Jaffa.

In the nineties of the last century are restored monuments, a lot of art galleries, theaters, souvenir shops, restaurants and pedestrian streets. Jaffa turned into a romantic spot on the coast. At Kedumim Square stands baroque church of St. Peter, built by the Franciscans at the end of the XIX century on the foundations of the fortress of the times of the Crusaders. Its lighthouse stands out among the old buildings standing "at sea" house belonged, as we are assured the guides mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles Simon the tanner - a friend of the Apostle Peter. Former Al-Bahr shows more on the canvas of the painter Le Brun (1675), is the oldest operating mosque in the city. On All square stands a beautiful clock tower, built in 1906 in honor of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, later deposed the Young Turk revolution.

Most of the archaeological finds in Tel Aviv Jaffa made on the hill. There restored ancient Egyptian gates age of about three and a half thousand years. Jaffa Museum is in the building of the XVIII century, built on the ruins of the Crusader fortress.

Private Gallery Farkas has the world's largest collection of historic posters Israel. In the city you can find a flea market and antiques, and inexpensive clothing made of pure cotton. The second market, the port, rich in seafood and oysters. And the local hummus Tel avivtsy considered the best in Israel.