Old Jaffa Kedumim Square quarter

Old Jaffa, centred on Kedumim Square on a hill above the Mediterranean in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, is one of the oldest continuously used port towns in the world, with settlement attested from the Bronze Age. Egyptian forces under the pharaohs held the town in the second millennium BCE, and the remains of an Egyptian gateway associated with Ramesses II are displayed in an archaeological garden beside the square. Jaffa features in biblical accounts as the port from which the prophet Jonah sailed and where timber for Solomon's Temple arrived, and in Greek myth as the place where Andromeda was chained to a rock. Later layers include Roman, Byzantine, Crusader and Mamluk rule, followed by Ottoman centuries; in 1799 Napoleon's army besieged and sacked the town. The quarter visible today is mostly Ottoman-era stone housing and alleys, rebuilt in the 1960s and 1970s as an artists' quarter with galleries, studios and restaurants. Streets are narrow and stepped, with names tied to the zodiac signs, and the Wishing Bridge, the Jaffa Port below and the Visitors Center, which includes an excavated archaeological display, are the usual stops. The curatorial approach is open-air and layered: the Ramesses Gate remains, a Crusader citadel-related walls, the church of St Peter and the nearby Mahmoudiya Mosque all sit within a few minutes' walk. Restoration has been continuous and sometimes controversial, balancing tourism with residents of Jaffa's mixed Arab and Jewish population. The state of preservation is good in the main lanes, with excavated areas protected by glass and fencing, while some side alleys show weathering. The quarter is open at all hours and is free to enter, and many galleries and restaurants keep their own opening times.