| Al Deira Hotel | |
|---|---|
| Sea view from Al Deira Hotel. | |
|
|
|
| Location | Gaza, Palestinian territories |
| Coordinates | |
| Opening date | 2000 |
| Architect | Rashid Abdel Hamid |
| Rooms | 22 |
The Al Deira Hotel (Arabic: فندق الديرة غزة فلسطين) is a beach hotel located in Gaza.[1] It was built in 2000 and has 22 rooms which feature high, domed ceilings and views of the Mediterranean.[1] The hotel is regularly used by foreign journalists covering Gaza.[2]
The architecture of this boutique hotel, built around an inner courtyard, has an ""Ottoman elegance."[1] The style blends traditional Moroccan and Arab architecture with modern design influences. It is built with dark brown sun dried mud bricks, with white arches, vaulted and domed ceilings and hand crafted furniture. The architect was Rashid Abdel Hamid.[3] The hotel also contains a notable bookshop.[4]
The hotel has received a number of very positive reviews in Time magazine,[1]by British journalist Alan Johnston[5]and by Lonely Planet which describes the Al Deira as "swish, stylish and tightly run," and "without question the best hotel in town."[3] Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg has said that in the evenings "it brimmed over with members of haute Palestine, that small clique of Gazans who earned more than negligible incomes. The men smoked apple-flavored tobacco from water pipes; the women, their heads covered, drank strong coffee and kept quiet."[6]
In 2010, UN Goodwill Ambassadors Mia Farrow and Egyptian actor Mahmoud Kabil visited the hotel.[7]
The Al Deira's seaside café is popular with wealthy Gazan families, the men commonly smoke nargila on the terrace.[1][8] It is busier in the evenings when a large numbers of patrons arrive to view the sunset over the Mediterranean.[9]