Al Deira Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Al Deira Hotel is a beach hotel located in Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

. It was built in 2000 and has 22 rooms which feature high, domed ceilings and views of the Mediterranean. The hotel is regularly used by foreign journalists covering Gaza.

The architecture of this boutique hotel
Boutique hotel
Boutique hotel is a term popularized in North America and the United Kingdom to describe intimate, usually luxurious or unique hotel environments. Boutique hotels differentiate themselves from larger chain/branded hotels and motels by providing personalized accommodation and services / facilities...

, built around an inner courtyard, has an ""Ottoman elegance." 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. The hotel also contains a notable bookshop.

The hotel has received a number of very positive reviews in Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

,by British journalist Alan Johnston
Alan Johnston
Alan Graham Johnston is a British journalist working for the BBC. He has been the BBC's correspondent in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip, and is currently the correspondent in Rome...

and by Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world. The company is owned by BBC Worldwide, which bought a 75% share from the founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 2007 and the final 25% in February 2011...

 which describes the Al Deira as "swish, stylish and tightly run," and "without question the best hotel in town." Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg is an American journalist. He is an author and a staff writer for The Atlantic, having previously worked for The New Yorker. Goldberg writes principally on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa...

 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."

In 2010, UN Goodwill Ambassadors Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...

 and Egyptian actor Mahmoud Kabil
Mahmoud Kabil
Mahmoud Kabil is an award-winning Egyptian actor and political activist. He is also the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa. Kabil served as an officer in the Military of Egypt's Special Forces before becoming a promising actor in Egyptian cinema during the 1970s. ...

 visited the hotel.

Café

The Al Deira's seaside café is popular with wealthy Gazan families, the men commonly smoke nargila on the terrace. It is busier in the evenings when a large numbers of patrons arrive to view the sunset over the Mediterranean.
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