I could not believe that this young man's father was born in 1901!!! Zahran is the very passionate owner of the Dar Zahran Heritage Building, which he has set up in his old family home located in the centre of Ramallah.
We were greeted with coffee, sweets and a tour of the building. It is not surprising that Zahran is so enthusastic about this bustling cultural centre - he has spent the last 5 years restoring the 250 year old building to its former glory. It now includes an art gallery, a space for talks, and a very good shop selling traditional Palestinian wares. He also has plans to open a library and cafe soon.
The small courtyard has a lovely fountain that offers some peace and quiet from the busy street, and
the 1 metre thick walls ensure that the house is warm in winter and cool in summer.
Zahran's dad it the handsome young man in the middle of this photo. I quite liked the contrast between the old and the (relatively) new world in this photo - only one generation apart in Zahran's case!
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Some of my friends back home are surprised to hear that Palestine has its own brewery, that brews according to the "Reinheitsgebot", the German beer purity law from 1487.
My friends will be even more surprised that we visited the brewery and that we met the "first and only female beer brewer in the Middle East"!
Madees has an MBA from Birzeit University and works in all parts of the family business, but she loves the hands-on activities the best, as well as travelling to visit breweries in other parts of the world (especially trappist breweries in the Netherlands)! She hasn't been to Australia yet so we suggested that she visit Little Creatures Brewery in Perth... to steal some ideas about how to turn a brewery to a popular hang-out - although Taybeh Brewery has mastered the art of Octoberfest already.
