Jaffa

The port of Jaffa, which lies today in a suburb of Tel Aviv-Yafo, was important in the Middle Ages as the main port for the (inland) city of Jerusalem. In Dati's day it was in Mamluk hands, and a 1432 account by Bertrandon de la Broquière notes that it was mostly abandoned, with only "a few tents covered with reeds" to greet arriving pilgrims. See also Ascalon, Caesarea, and Acre. Note: The labels on the Sfera maps vary offer a bimodal distribution between a more Greco-Roman Ioppe (and variants) and a more vernacular Giaffa (and variants). Campbell #1525.