Our room at Nazareth was reserved by our travel agent back home in New Delhi, who told us that he’d booked us a room at the `Casanova Pilgrim Centre’. Casanova? That didn’t seem to fit with `Pilgrim Centre’ and we wondered whether religion or romance was the name of the game here- until we reached it on a hot, dusty afternoon. The road on which the Casa Nova (yes, that’s what it turned out to be) Hospice stands makes its way up a very steep road running up a hill, and the hospice is pretty high up the hill, almost directly opposite the imposing Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth’s most important Christian sight.Other than the fact that the hospice is so conveniently located, it’s also a beautifully quiet, tranquil place. Cool, welcoming and somehow very soothing is what the hospice is all about. It’s run by Italians- Franciscans, actually- and the entire hospice has a no-frills charm about it which manages to be comfortable without being austere. On the way up to the rooms, a corridor leads away into a small chapel, and on the ground floor near the reception counter, is a large wall map of Israel, showing major Christian churches and monasteries- all of it made on painted tiles.
The room we got had an uncarpeted wooden floor, three beds, a huge window with green-painted wooden shutters, cool white linen and a plain wooden cross on the wall. No TV, no minibar, none of the other amenities you’d expect in a posh hotel. Meals are table d’hôte, and like the accommodation, very basic but good- a clear vegetable soup, roast chicken with vegetables, freshly baked bread and the most luscious oranges I have ever had!
The tariff, if you’re going as an individual, is US$35 per person, inclusive of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Groups pay US$30 per person for full board. Bed and breakfast is US$25 and 20 respectively for individuals and groups.