The Notre Dame Jerusalem Center

During our visit to Jerusalem last week, we stayed at the Notre Dame Jerusalem Center. This is a Pontifical Institute offering this huge guest house for Catholic Pilgrims in Jerusalem. It is owned and managed by the Vatican and dedicated to the Mother Mary as you can see her large statue of Our Lady of Salvation of Paris on top of the building. This was built by the French Assumptionists in 1882 and completed in 1888 from the donations of French pilgrims to the Holy Land. This is a four star hotel offering very clean and spacious rooms with your own private bathrooms plus the security keep the pilgrims safe. There are three restaurants inside offering a variety of delicious food from Mediterranean, European and Middle Eastern food. The rooftop restaurant upstairs offers a variety of wine and cheeses from Europe, offers a delicious gourmet menu and gorgeous view of Old Jerusalem. The other restaurant offers buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. The staff are so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about their City. The premises are so clean. The only negative is that there are no TVs in the rooms but thanks for the free wi-fi in the rooms. For Catholics, this could be your weekly sacrifice for being in the Holy Land. We managed anyway since we were out of the room all day sightseeing and enjoying Jerusalem. There is even a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary which was consecrated since 1894 and offers twice a day daily mass. Overall, it was our home away from home. We would come back and stay here again.