Jaffa - the people in the Shuk

Jaffa's Shuk HaPishpishim (fleamarket) is one of Tel-Aviv-Yafo's most popular attractions. It is also one of my favourite places in Israel. Full of shops and stalls selling antiques, carpets, clothes, bric-a-brac, food and drink, it's a great place for strolling and browsing. I love looking at the items for sale, occasionally picking up a bargain and regularly stopping for a drink or a snack. But the thing I enjoy most of all is watching the people that make this place so special - the merchants, the shoppers and on Friday, the musicians and entertainers. I recently spent a week in Jaffa, visiting the shuk every day and getting to know some of the people who work there. Several of them agreed to pose for photographs whilst I captured others in more candid shots. This post features just a few of my favourites.

The merchants

Along Oleh Zion Street, there are several shops selling carpets, rugs and other handmade floor and furniture coverings. These are not just any old carpets but beautifully crafted pieces from Turkey, Persia (Iran), Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Many of them are antique and were made up to 100 years ago. The merchants are happy to show their wares to visitors and serious shoppers will be treated to Turkish coffee and long discussions before coming to a decision to purchase. The shop owners are not only merchants - they are also craftsmen who can be seen sitting outside their shops repairing carpets whilst waiting for customers. 

Many of these craftsmen were born in Iran, learning their skills there at a young age and coming to Israel after the Khomeini regime was established in 1979. There were once 100,000 Jews in Iran, with major communities in Isfahan, Shiraz and Teheran with a history going back to the sixth century BCE. Today there are probably no more than 10,000 Jews living there. The two men pictured at work were both born in Iran and have shops on Oleh Zion Street. I was struck by Shalomo's expression, clearly delighting in his work and by Reuven's chic style with his hat and scarf. Both continued to work as they told me their stories.

The shuk has changed significantly in recent years with fewer of the older merchants and more and more modern boutique shops selling a range of products including soaps, candles, furnishings and food items. I like both styles. The mix is very appealing and attracts a most eclectic audience but it will be a terrible shame if the older more serendipitous concerns disappear all together.

I met Mikhail in the Greek Market, just north of Oleh Zion. He has a small shop there selling antiques and vintage items. His collection includes hanukkiot, siddurim (prayer books) with silvered Bezalel School of Art designed covers, small sculptures and a range of old household items. We got talking when I asked him about a tiny, blackened metal item that turned out to be a small cooker, more than 80 years old.  Mikhail told me he was born in Afghanistan and came to Israel as a child about 60 years ago. He was very happy for me to take his picture and reminded me several times to come and see him again when I next visit the shuk. I liked his kind, open face and those bright eyes that remain the eyes of a much younger person. I asked him about his beautiful kippah with it's bright colours and decorative detail. He told me it came from Afghanistan along with the family.

The shoppers

The shuk attracts many kinds of people. Some come to buy expensive items from the modern shops. Others come to the real "flea" section at the back of the market. This is a browser's paradise with goods spread haphazardly over stalls or on sheets on the floor. In this part of the shuk you can find just about anything - vinyl records, Russian military pin badges, books, second (third, fourth, fifth) hand clothing in great heaps, shoes, hats, electrical goods and glass or metal items. The stall holders here are diverse as are the shoppers who include religious Jews, Arabs, Africans, Chinese, Filipinos and tourists from all over the world. You might even see one of the more established stall holders in here searching for items that they will later sell from their own shop.

One of the things I enjoy most here is watching the faces of the serious browsers as they hunt, pounce or consider whether they will make a purchase or not. Then of course comes the discussion about price. The man looking at the books and discs is deep in thought, having a "buy or not to buy moment". I wonder if he went ahead with a purchase.

On first site, I thought that the man with the guitar was one of the many musicians and entertainers who sometimes turn up in the shuk. Then I realised that he was trying the instrument out before deciding whether or not to buy it. As with our other pensive shopper, he appears deep in thought and somehow aloof from all around him. I really like his very cool shirt. Speaking of fashion, I also spotted a rather fabulous lady wearing leopard skin print, leafing through a book.  She had picked it up from a chaotic pile of "stuff" that includes bags, clothes, more books, an old radio and one of those revolving electric fans. A veritable department store.

The entertainers 

Friday is my favourite day at the shuk. As well as the regular shops, traders and cafes, there are extra street stalls in the Greek Market where local artists and artisans sell their work. It is also the day when singers, musicians and other entertainers come along to perform. One of my favourites is a musician who plays the kamancheh, an Iranian stringed instrument, sometimes accompanied by two other players. Their traditional Persian music is hauntingly beautiful, always attracts a crowd and on at least one occasion provoked loud ululation  from a female passerby!

Others include the wonderful mime artist who puts on an amusing, witty and sometimes sad performance to a variety of songs ranging from French chansons to modern pop music. Elegantly dressed in trousers with braces (called suspenders in North America but definitely not in the UK!) he fits in very nicely to the surroundings of the Greek market and could easily have come directly from Saloniki. Just a few steps away from him you can see another kind of street theatre as a young woman produces enormous bubbles by soaking a hoop in detergent and then letting the wind catch it. As a child I loved those small bottles of bubbles we would be given from time to time so this is a real throwback for me. And clearly not just for me as she gathers quite a crowd of adults (and children) taking pictures or trying to catch or burst the bubbles.

Then there are the people passing through, stopping to chat with friends or just enjoying the atmosphere like those in the pictures below. Watching people must be the best free entertainment there is. I can't wait to return before the end of the year...

Shuk HaPishpishim is open from Sunday - Friday. Most of the shops and stalls are closed on Saturday for shabbat although several of the restaurants are open.

Read more about the Fleamarket here.

Exploring Jaffa part one - The Fleamarket

I visit Tel Aviv every year. I always stay in the city centre in my favourite hotel - The Center Chic at Dizengoff Kikar, but this time I am here for a whole month and decided to do something different. I have taken a room in a beautiful old Ottoman building in Ajami, just a short walk from the centre of Jaffa and within easy reach of central Tel Aviv. Of course, I have visited Jaffa many times before, but staying here has given me the chance to really explore this fascinating and rapidly changing part of the city. 

The Fleamarket (Shuk Ha Pishpishim in Hebrew) is Jaffa's commercial heart and the area most visited by tourists and locals alike. Built in the nineteenth century on land belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church, it was once extremely luxurious with wide streets and marble walls. Some of that luxurious feel is returning as the market has changed enormously in recent years. You can find just about anything ranging from second hand clothes to brand new designer items and from cutting edge local design to pots and pans that have passed through many homes as well as eateries that cater to all tastes and wallets. A few steps from the centre of the market you will also find the studios of artists and designers, some of whom sell their work here too. The traders come in all shapes, sizes and ages too and range from a very young, very stylish crowd designing their own goods to elderly women overseeing second hand (or third, or fourth) clothes strewn on the floor for picking through.

I have some favourites. I like eating ice cream and drinking coffee in Shaked on at Yehuda Margorza 8, and I like the chicken livers and lentil dishes at Cafe Pua at Rabbi Yochana 8. On the subject of eating, you can find many cuisines in the market including Greek, Arab, Bulgarian and Italian and also fish, meat or dairy establishments. Several are non-Kosher so  seafood devotees don't need to go hungry and several now stay open on Shabbat. Everyone has their favourite eating place but Doctor Shakshuka at Beit Eshel 3 is a perennial favorite and can attract queues at busy times. Shakshuka is a traditional dish amongst Libyan Jews and consists primarily of tomatoes, eggs, onions, peppers and various spices. The restaurant is owned and run by a family that originates from Tripoli in Libya. Many Libyan Jews once lived here. Proof of this includes the presence of the Libyan synagogue in Jaffa's old city and another Tripolitania restaurant on Jaffa's boulevard, Sderot Jerusalem which will be the subject of a separate post.

I also like spending time browsing the delights of shops such as the concept store In Another Time at Ole Zion 26, where I recently found a Hebrew version of Tom Sawyer from the 1950's, some fantastic metal street advertising signs for Dubek cigarettes from the same period (probably designed by the Shamir brothers) and a great selection of Israeli, French and Turkish film posters. Palestine Eretz Israel at Ole Zion 8 is even more serendipitous and is crammed full of old photographs, postcards, maps, lamps, kitchen equipment and many objects of uncertain use, almost all of which have a story behind them. There is so much stuff in the shop that it can be difficult to move but it's one of the most fascinating places in the market and well worth breathing in whilst you browse. One thing to note, and there is a real note pinned to it to warn you - the vintage motorbike out front is not for sale and is used by the owner. So don't ask. Collection at 19 Yehuda Margoza is a good place to pick up gifts and stocks Israeli designed stationery, soaps, items of clothing and various items for the home. 

Many of the shops and all of the bars and restaurants stay open late into the night and large crowds of younger people gather at the informal eating and drinking places in the market's alleyways. The relatively small size of most of these places and the proximity of vintage furniture and fittings in the market makes for an interesting evening out with a very different atmosphere to some of the more corporate style bars found in big cities all over the world. The recent success of the market appears to be built on the combination of retail and catering - an approach tried and tested elsewhere too.

As well as sampling the food and browsing the shops, I like to wander through the alleyways and streets at the north end of the shuk. There are many artists' and craft workers' studios here and on Friday mornings you can see groups of artists out drawing or painting street scenes. I love the crumbling architecture in this section, especially the buildings with the curved ends that meet at the junction of Yo' Ezer Ish Habra and Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair streets Pictured at the top of this post). This area is not officially part of the flea market and was originally known as the Greek Market. Founded in 1905 it is bordered by the Clock Tower Square and Beit Eshel the main street of the flea market. This market was built under the direction of Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Avitmos who was also responsible for a similar development in Jerusalem in the same year. There are still Greek letters above one of the entrances to the market. 15-17 Beit Eshel Street is the site of the former Manuli's Khan. Built in the 1860's and named for its original Armenian owner, it became a commercial hub for the expanding Jewish community during the 1880's and guests at the Khan would consult Hebrew newspapers and discuss political issues of the day.

If further proof was needed that the market is changing, you can even find a boutique hotel here.  If you want to stay in the centre of things, the Market House Hotel at Beit Eshel 5, is in a beautifully refurbished Ottoman era building with an elegant lobby where you can also see the archaeological remains of a Byzantine Chapel through a glass section of the floor. Non-guests are welcome to have breakfast at the hotel and it's very good - I know because I've tried it. There is also a small take-away coffee shop and bakery within the hotel where all kinds of treats can be had. Perhaps the best thing about the Fleamarket is the atmosphere and that's best experienced by strolling its streets and alleys at a leisurely pace, listening to the banter of traders with customers and remembering of course to also look up so as not to miss the beautiful balconies and windows of old Jaffa.

 

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