The Scots Hotel

This hotel at Tiberias has been a highlight of our trip, providing us with a marvelously comfortable base from which we could travel out on day trips all around the Galilee region.

It's a two minute walk from the lake shore, and from the moment our hosts gave us hot toddies on our arrival we felt absolutely at home.

Nowhere have we been able to choose from such a huge variety of foods, and as far as I know it's the only hotel in the Holy Land where you can enjoy the luxury of bacon with your breakfast eggs :-)

The Scots Hotel was built more than a hundred years ago by a missionary, Dr David Watt Torrance from the Church of Scotland.

If i told you that after a long history as a hospital it's now run by the Church of Scotland as a place where travelers can find rest and rejuvenation you might think of draughty hallways, sparsely furnished rooms and bathrooms at the end of the corridor.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In a controversial move, in the early 2000s the Church renovated the old buildings and built more to create a luxury hotel - but with a soul. The quiet gardens are still there, and the views over the lake from some of the rooms are just inspirational.

(and they're not even paying me to write this :-))