LES QUARTIERS SUD

Tel Aviv's southern neighborhoods trace the city's evolution through history.

Jaffa. Near the waterfront, this is the port and the original city, one of the oldest in Palestine: its origins date back to 3,000 BC. In Old Jaffa, the old Ottoman buildings have been largely restored, an artists' quarter has sprung up and the port still attracts fishermen's boats alongside those of pleasure boaters. To the south, the Ajami district was built in the 1860s. Don't miss a stroll along its seafront promenade and Kedem Street, its main thoroughfare.

Noga. At the northern end of Jaffa, Noga is a sort of buffer zone between the Turkish city and Neve Tzedek, where the first Jews settled. It lies precisely between Eilat Street and Schlomo Road, west of Elifelet Street. Tel Aviv now has to reckon with this micro-neighborhood, which is organized around the Noga Theater, or Gesher Theater, and a few prominent restaurants and cafés. In recent years, many young designers and trendy artisans have set up shop here. It's also where you'll find the charming corner of the former American and German colonies, organized around the Protestant Emmanuel Church.

Florentine and Kiryat Hamelacha. Further east, resolutely contemporary, are vast neighborhoods of warehouses, wholesalers and workshops that have gradually become the arty , trendy districts of youth and artists. Florentine, in particular, has become a favorite spot for trendy, bohemian young people, with its many cafés, bars and restaurants. The neighborhood is organized around Levinsky Street, where the market of the same name is held, and around which you'll find most of the local cafés. Kiryat Hamelacha lies south of Shlomo Road and east of Florentine and Shocken Streets. It is marked by the crude architecture of the 1960s, and has been undergoing a transformation in recent years.

Shapira and Neve Sha'anan. At the eastern end of the southern neighborhoods, Shapira and Neve Sha'anan are the neighborhoods of tomorrow's city. Currently inhabited by the most recent immigrants from Africa and Asia, these neighborhoods are gradually undergoing gentrification. Shapira stretches between Shlomo Street to the north and Kibbutz Galuyyot to the south, while Neve Sha'anan is organized in a star shape around the bus station, which is expected to move in the next few years.