The design concept of the 123-room luxury hotel is rooted in the ancient ruins discovered on the land of Tiberias, ushering in a new era of hospitality to the historical region in Northern Israel

ondon-based design studio Saar Zafrir Design, has today unveiled its latest project, the Galei Kinneret Hotel; a restored 123-room hotel situated on the historical Sea of Galilee in Northern Israel. Initially built in 1946, the original Galei Kinneret was one of Israel’s first luxury hotels founded by entrepreneur Lotte Eisenberg, inspired by a trip to the magnificent Villa d’Este Hotel in Lake Como. Having been appointed to fully redesign the uninhabited hotel, Saar Zafrir Design has drawn inspiration from the ancient ruins discovered onsite, and reworked the charm of Lotte’s vision into a seamless design concept that blends the hotel into the natural landscape. The result is one of the most highly anticipated new openings on Israel’s hospitality scene. Honouring Lotte Eisenberg’s innovative vision and the discovery of the archeological remains on the land, Saar Zafrir has drawn on these historical references to determine the narrative of the hotel, which celebrates the property’s long-standing history. Manifesting a clean, white structure, the hotel’s facade has been kept very much the same, and the interior of the hotel has been transformed into a calm oasis that ushers guests seamlessly towards the still waters and spectacular views across the Sea of Galilee. Emanating a sophisticated and serene atmosphere, the remodelled hotel features a neutral colour palette and the use of natural materials that compliment the hotel’s natural surroundings. The hotel encompasses 123 spectacular rooms and suites with outdoor jacuzzis, presenting either a view of the vast mountainous landscape or Sea of Galilee. Further facilities include an

Lindoor and outdoor bar, swimming pool, outdoor yoga deck, restaurant, spa, fully equipped gym, private beach and boat and a synagogue for guest use. Upon entering the hotel, guests are greeted by a minimal, open space characterised by 3-dimensional graphic stone cladded walls, glossy marble flooring and elegant reception desks finished with marble and wood. The foyer of the hotel was kept intentionally clean and quiet, with the intention of the space to draw guests straight through the property, as a corridor to the Sea of Galilee. Championing the use of natural materials and tones, the hotel lobby offers a comfortable lounge area with wood panelled walls, parquet flooring and soft linen upholstered sofas with wooden accents. Managing the hotel’s restoration from concept to completion, 90% of the hotel’s fixtures and furnishings have been designed and custom made in-house by Saar Zafrir Design, to perfectly compliment the creative vision. Saar Zafrir said: “I have such fond memories growing up and spending my summers on the Kinneret that despite not generally working in Israel, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work on a project that carried so much sentimental value to me. The area has been lacking in attention for some while, but with the relaunch of this iconic hotel, we believe Tiberias will once again become a leading destination for both domestic and international tourists to Israel having set a new standard of hospitality in Northern Israel”. Through a smooth, cohesive wooden walkway, guests are led from the hotel lobby into the restaurant “Lotte”, named after Ms. Eisenberg herself. Presenting a menu honouring Lotte’s

European roots merged with the flavours of Jerusalem, Michelin star awarded chef Asaf Granit (of Shabour and Balagan in Paris, Machne Yehuda in Jerusalem and The Palomar and Coal Office in London) is the mastermind behind this new culinary concept that captures the spirit of the original founder. Committed to working only with local farmers and suppliers, Lotte restaurant is a celebration of Israel's delicious, fresh and abundant produce grown between the Galilee Mountains and Golan Heights, with a menu offering dishes of fish, meat and fresh garden flavours. An interpretation of what Saar Zafrir saw in the chef’s work, the space is vibrantly refined, with organic tones and the use of natural materials featuring parquet wood flooring, wood and rattan fixtures and floral upholstered accents that decorate the space. The main design features are the large archways covered in ceramic tiles in different shades of green, that climb up the walls and across the ceiling like leaves that gently disperse towards the glass wall leading out to the hotel’s private beach.

Overlooking the hotel’s private beach is an outdoor restaurant, sunloungerlined swimming pool and cosy outdoor bar for guests to unwind at the water’s edge. Grounding the hotel to its historic roots, works by Israeli sculpturist Yuval Lufen that manifest the archaeological remains found on the site have been implanted beneath the glass-bottomed swimming pool, with the original ruins currently preserved by the Antiquities Authority in Israel. At the foot of the pool, guests are invited to enjoy a drink and shelter from the sun beneath a huge treelike structure by artist Gilad Keinan. The inspiration for creating this aluminium tree came from Zafrir’s experience at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, resulting in a an exceptional monument that combines both design with practicality - the sprawling leaves that overstretch the circular bar offer much needed shade from the blazing heat during the summer months. Each of the 123 rooms feature parquet wood flooring and off-white panelled walls, with a soothing palette of natural and organic tones. Offering either a view of the mountainous landscape or the Sea of Galilee, the sophisticated and tasteful rooms are intended to compliment the hotel’s surroundings for a harmonious experience that connects the guests to nature. The rooms champion the use of natural materials with ample light flooding through large windows, and bathrooms finished head-to-toe in pale, veined marble and gold accents.

The Galei Kinneret Hotel is located at 1 Eliezer Kaplan Street, Tiberias, and is now officially open to the public.

For more information about Galei Kinneret Hotel please visit www.galei-kinneret.com For more information about Saar Zafrir Design please visit www.saarzafrir.com

Saar Zafrir Design was founded by London-based designer Saar Zafrir. The studio offers design, investment and development services for hospitality projects throughout Europe. Following a successful career of over a decade in the capital markets, Saar Zafrir switched gears and followed his passion of design and hospitality development. An interior designer by heart, Zafrir's studio manages projects from A to Z, from concept to design, to purchasing and construction. The studio is behind a number of Europe's hottest design hotel properties including the beautiful guest rooms of Max Brown Hotels and Sir Savigny Berlin along with the full design of Brown Beach House Croatia and Provocateur Berlin and Golden Phoenix restaurant, the city's first shamelessly sensual design hotel.

by Adam Kluger

n NYC they chew you up and spit you out half-gnawed. That’s what happened to me. One thing led to the next and I found myself in an adobe house on a remote mesa in southwest NM, an hour’s drive from town on a dirt road. The distance is only 14 miles, but the road winds up over a 10,00-foot mountain, switching back and forth on the edge of a precipice on a road so narrow you mostly can’t pass another car or pull over if a truck is barreling toward you. They drive fast, up here on the Mesa, but I really can’t drive. I lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn for almost all of my life, since I was sixteen, without a vehicle, and unexpectedly I became a senior citizen – one without driving skills and a whole lot of anxiety. I didn’t think when I moved here: How the heck am I going to drive to get supplies at Walmart an hour away? I just kept thinking: there must be a corner bodega or Korean deli. There isn’t. I am one of the most terrified people I have ever met, and I have met a lot of people. My life in NYC was full of people, but, somehow, I never kept any as friends. This might have been due to my personality – probably – or that in NYC you don’t – I didn’t – make any ‘real’ friends,

Ijust people I would meet for dinner, at art openings, or other events. But mostly, no relationship ever deepened. I had a husband and a kid; when my kid was small, I was friends with other mothers with kids the same age, and, for the brief time I was famous, I was popular and people were happy to invite me. But then the fame part disappeared and I was lacking the glue, or whatever it is, that bonds and binds you to other people. Out here, it doesn’t matter: there’s no one, human anyway, for miles around. Certain things, I loved about the city. I liked taking the subway – not ‘waiting for the subway when I was trying to get somewhere – but taking it. I could get on the train and just decide to go somewhere, anywhere, at random, and end up in Coney Island where, if you walked toward Brighton Beach, Russian emigres had a huge area that was sort of a flea market -- individual tiny booths where they were selling antiques, mostly junk, in stalls so crammed you could only see what was creating a front wall of stuff. Some booths you could squeeze into a bit farther, and I would come home – via subway – lugging an

Photo by Tama Janowitz

elaborate brass set of fireplace andirons; or a chandelier with a thousand crystals probably from an old movie theater, or an art deco table lamp with a funnel-shaped glass top and tiered base. You could find anything there: Dansk sets from the ’60s or a box of ’50s glassware with gold designs on the side with little twisted metal carrying cases or a huge French Louis IV style porcelain urn.

Beyond the ‘stuff’ were the sellers, elderly, disheveled, from Russia and Ukraine, each one a character, bickering with you over price and the value of the garbage –which, a lot of it, was actually pretty great stuff. And I was buying it for five bucks, or twenty. There were all kinds of things I loved about the city, but eventually, most of it wore off.

By the end, the things I liked about the city were not the good things or the glamorous things – not the quirky nightclubs nor the latest restaurants (although I still miss being able to get a cheap meal from any ethnicity in the world) nor the museums or theater. But there were still the subway adventures to strange neighborhoods, and the rats. For a certain time, where I lived in Brooklyn, there was a massive infiltration of rats, more than usual. You could see hordes of them in broad daylight, running into holes in the dirt in front of the buildings, or in the parks where I took my kid. Sometimes, me and my kid traveling on the subway would see groups of young rats, scampering and wrestling. Or slowly searching for food on the tracks.

During the years I was in NYC, I always wished I had a pair of those night goggles that (at least at that time) cost about three grand but enable you to see in the dark. I had spent many years in NYC going out at night but I was probably missing 90% of the real street life and action, if only I had had better night vision, although in the early 80’s you could be walking or in a taxi in the far reaches of the East Village and see groups of feral looking men, gathered around oil-drum cans full of burning material.

Out on the Mesa, here in New Mexico, it is a ‘dark sky’ region, in the Gila National Forest, one of the few remaining places in the world where no ambient light creeps in from man-made sources. You don’t need night goggles to see the sky, and even a telescope wouldn’t make that much difference when the stars are falling overhead. Instead of rats, at dusk, I saw a peccary.

I knew there were peccaries out here, which, locally, are called Javelinas or Javelina hogs. I always thought – not that I thought about it much – that a Javelina was a kind of pig, but as it turns out, the White Collared peccary is a totally different species, originating in South America. They travel in groups and don’t attack people unless trapped, or if threatened, or trying to protect their young.

However, according to the people around here, I should be very alarmed. They tell me a peccary will randomly go after a person. While it looks like peccaries have little tusks, in fact, these are canines they will use to slash, gore, infect, or kill you. This peccary species is highly dangerous and I must be hyper-vigilant, hyper-cautious, for the dangers from the peccary are much worse than life in NYC where you could be insulted at a black-tie dinner, bitten by a rat, mugged, attacked by a crazed mentally ill person, catch TB from someone on the subway or, worst of all, dropped from society and no longer invited to fashionable events.

I’m adjusting to my new life out here. It’s going to take time. There are scorpions, rattlesnakes, my inability to drive to get off the mountain, and imminent danger from forest fires. I’m leaving out lots. It’s going to take time.