Jaffa has one of the world’s oldest ports – perhaps the oldest. According to the Bible, Jaffa was founded by Noah’s son, Japheth - actually founded around 1600 b.c.e. Also in the Bible: a) The cedars used to build the Temple passed through Jaffa. b) Jonah the prophet began his journey from Jaffa before the whale got him. Jaffa was occupied by many peoples including Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Greeks. Recaptured by Muslims after being occupied by the Crusaders. Arabs controlled it until the 20th century – it flourished under the Ottomans. The city walls were last built by the Turks in the 19th century. Jaffa was absorbed into Tel Aviv after the 1948 Jewish victory.

Tel Aviv is Israel’s commercial and cultural center – the country’s modern face – no ancient sites are here – it was founded in 1909. The attractive promenade along the Mediterranean Sea extends the complete length of the city from north to south. Tel Aviv has the world’s largest collection of buildings in the modernist Bauhaus architectural style, with such characteristics as functional simplicity, curved balconies, vertical column of external windows on stairways. Restoration and gentrification of the city accelerated over the last 25 years.