DAY 3 - Diamonds, Markets, and Jaffa

 Pre-Tour Day on Our Own


Time to wake up and get ready for the day.  I thought I'd try out the electrical adapters that I had brought to use here in Israel.  Mmm....let's curl my hair today since it's in that in-between stage.    I plugged it in pretty soon I smelled something burning.  WOW!  That was fast - it really heated up fast. Guess I won't be using this anymore.  OOPS! 

Uh - oh!  USA has 110 volts and here in Israel, they use 220 volt appliances.

Time for an amazing Breakfast Buffet

My plate - I cannot eat all that other stuff for breakfast...too much!

We had the opportunity to take a tour of the city with 8 of us in a small bus.  We went with a Russian group and their guide. 

Our English guide was very informative.  The White City refers to a collection of over 4,000 buildings built in a unique form of the Bauhaus Style in Tel Aviv from the 1930s by German Jewish architects who immigrated to the Palestine after the rise of the Nazis. Tel Aviv has the largest number of buildings in the Bauhaus/International Style of any city in the world.

Hebrew, which is one of the country's two official languages, is the primary language of Israel, and almost the entire population speaks it. Arabic, used mainly by Israel's Arab minority, which comprises about 1/5th of the population, is the country's second official language.   English, spoken as a second language by the majority of the Israeli population, is used widely in official logos, road signs and product labels. Russian, spoken by the large immigrant population from the former Soviet Union, is also heavily used.

We had the opportunity to go to a huge Diamond Center.

A HUGE diamond that came up in the dark from underneath - wow!  We got to see it for about 10 seconds.

In the beginning of the 21st century, Israel is one of the world's three major centers for polished diamonds, alongside Belgium and India.

Gorgeous colors of various types of stones and diamonds.

Diamonds constitutes about 24% in total country export

OK - I am holding a pair of dainty earrings valued at only $1200

To Jaffa to learn more about one of the oldest cities in the world.   

The building now housing the Ilana Goor Museum was originally erected in 1742.  At that time it was used as an inn for Jewish pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem. The inn, located outside the city walls, served as a shelter, protecting the pilgrims from robbers. In the second half of the 19th century it became a factory for olive oil soap.

Ilana Goor first purchased part of the building in 1983, and then eventually also the rest of it, with the intention of converting it to a museum dedicated to her art collection. 

The museum was inaugurated in September 1995

A legend says Jaffa was named after Noah’s son Japheth. (Another suggestion is that its builders, the Canaanites, named it Yafi, meaning beautiful.) 

 Jaffa is mentioned four times in the Hebrew Bible:

- Port of entry for Lebanon's cedars for Solomon's 1st & 2nd Temples.
- as the place where the prophet Jonah embarked for Tarshish.
- as the territorial border of the Tribe of Dan.




*Alexander the Great's troops were stationed in Jaffa.
*During the 1st Jewish-Roman War, Jaffa was captured and burned.
Josephus, a Roman-Jewish historian writes that 8,400 inhabitants were massacred.
*St. Peter brings back to life the widow, Dorcas
* Possible sight where Noah built the Ark

Beautiful mosaics

 Some locals say they believe that if you hold onto a zodiac sign while looking out to sea, and make a wish, it will come true.

Here I am right after making my wish!  I am a Leo...

Here are the 8 of us on our Pre-Tour in Jaffa

Remains of an Egyptian brick wall from 1250 BC, in Summit Park, Jaffa

An Ilana Goor sculpture

Napolean has visited and fought here in Jaffa

Peter received a crucial vision that changed his mind about accepting gentiles into the early Christian Church.

Peter was staying in the seaside house of a tanner called Simon and went up on the roof to pray.
He fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and a sheet lowered, filled with all sorts of animals, which he was told to eat. When he protested that some of the animals were unclean, a voice told him, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane”.

The al-Bahr Mosque or The Sea Mosque, is the oldest extant mosque in Jaffa, Israel.  Next to it are the rocks that Andromeda were chained to.

 In Greek mythology, Andromeda is the daughter of the king Cepheus and his wife Cassiopea. When Cassiopeia's pride leads her to boast that Andromeda is more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon sends a sea monster to ravage Aethiopia as divine punishment. Andromeda is stripped and chained naked to a rock as a sacrifice to sate the monster, but is saved from death by Perseus.

St. Peter's church from the front.

 To market to market - to buy a fat pig - - -

The sights and food and people of the market in Jaffa.

Can't wait to taste a falafel.

When I asked this man if his falafel was good, he replied that it was the BEST!   Deep-fried chick peas and salad makings stuffed into a pita shell, drizzled with tahini.  YUM!

 Everything looks so good with a variety of colors and smells everywhere!

Young boy painting on an easel

I bought some key chains from this friendly couple.

Performers out in the square

 Israeli People in Jaffa

Mother and son posing for me

The dates are huge and so good!

Olives are different colors and are to die for!

 Dinner at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jaffa.  What an array of food!  I will be posting a food blog in the next week of all the other food we encountered.  So DELICIOUS!!

Let's start with dessert!

Life's short - eat dessert!

Every night we get a bottle of wine on our table, but my cousins and Joanne enjoy it without me, cause I don't drink anything but water. 

What a day it has been today.  Tomorrow starts the first day of our actual tour.  There are 45 of us on a full bus.  It's going to be an amazing two weeks with LOTS to see.

FOLLOW ALONG, won't you?