The Old Port of Jaffa · The Sailors Written on the Walls

Jaffa is one of the oldest ports in the world, said to be where Jonah boarded a ship to flee from the will of God.

The stone lanes of the old town bend into dead ends, and the walls carry the carvings and scrawls of residents through the ages; among them, it is said, are names cut by sailors before they sailed.

Tradition has it that when the wind rises at sea, names are called out in the lanes. The old people of Jaffa say those are the ones who did not come back, looking for their own line of writing.

Folklore / Jaffa · Israel / Time immemorial