I would say that much of our time in Jaffa was spent at the “micro” level. Many stops, thanks to our guide, were not at the big buildings or the main thoroughfares. Noa had us stopping at small, out of the way locations. Some would have been difficult to find on our own, even with guidance. This post will be about some of our stops in Old Jaffa.

The first photo is the door of Simon the Tanner’s house. Simon appears in the Acts of the Apostles book of the New Testament. He had a house in Jaffa where Saint Peter stayed during his missionary activities of the early Christian faith.

The 2nd photo is the Armenian Convent of St Nicholas. It’s on the waterfront facing the Caribbean Sea. It was built by the Armenian monks and served as a guest house for Armenian pilgrims coming by sea to visit the Holy Land and Christian shrines. In 1799, when Napoleon’s army occupied the city of Jaffa, this place served his plague-stricken soldiers as a hospital and Napoleon himself visited them here.

The 3rd photo is the Jerusalem Gate or Jaffa Gate. It marks one end of the road that led from the ancient port of Jaffa to Jerusalem. The gate, actually a gatehouse, was built in the 1500’s. It has been an entry point into the Old City for western pilgrims for centuries.

The 4th photo shows relatively recent archeological excavations. This was the location of Canaanite Jaffa starting in the 19th century BCE, the Middle Bronze Age. Jaffa’s Canaanite inhabitants lived for nearly 300 years under the rule of an Egyptian garrison. This is one of the monumental gates that dates to the period of rule of Ramesses II.

The last photo is in Abrasha Park. The statue is the ‘Statue of Faith’. It features several biblical scenes including the Binding of Isaac, the Conquest of Jericho, and Jacob’s Ladder. Noa, our guide, is showing a lot of faith that I can capture the moment.