Joppa/Jaffa the first stop for Pilgrimage

Joppa/Jaffa- Oct 2012



Ancient port of Joppa

Little did we know when we arrived in Israel that Jaffa was always the first place that people started their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. How blessed we felt to begin at the beginning.
Our 10 minute local bus ride took us to the ancient port of Jaffa also called Joppa...Yafo to the locals. The narrow streets came alive with stories from throughout the ages from ancient Greece to Modern Israel.

Rocky outcrops told the mythological story of Andromeda and Perseus where in Greek mythology, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, the beautiful Andromeda was chained to the rocks in order to satisfy the sea monster and was saved by Perseus, her future husband.



Andromeda's rocks

From the Bible, the stories of Jonah, the Apostle Peter and Simon the Tanner came to life when we stood at the waterfront of the oldest seaport in the world and wandered its lanes until we found Simon's house. At the rear of his house we found ancient artwork depicting the "Evil Eye". Blue stone was and still is used throughout the Mediterranean to ward off the pagan evil eye.