Why in-the-know travelers are flocking to a chic hideaway in Luxor, once the capital of ancient Egypt.
Chris Wallace
The houses in Luxor seem to strive skyward, forever optimistic.
For half a millennium, it was the center of a civilization.
Statues of the god Amon at the entrance to the Luxor Temple.Credit:Chris Wallace
Now, on the strength of a new tide of visitors, the city continues to grow.
In its heyday, Luxor was known as Wasethe city of the scepter.
The Greeks later renamed the place Thebesa corruption of the name of a local temple, perhaps.
From left: The courtyard restaurant and lounge at Al Moudira, a boutique hotel outside Luxor, Egypt; the hotel’s pool.Chris Wallace
Nowadays we call it Luxor, from the ArabicAl-Uqsur,meaning the palaces.
My guides said that the name Luxor is the root from which the wordluxuriousgrew.
Which it may need to keep up with the ambitious Four Seasons under construction next door.
From left: The entryway at Al Moudira; columns at the Temple of Khnum, south of the city.Chris Wallace
Its the closest thing I could find to the Chateau Marmont of the late eighties, he told me.
Unassuming and grand at the same time.
Al Moudira also has terrific guides at its disposal.
Men in their elegant djellabas moved bushels of emerald-colored sugarcane in carts pulled by donkey or motorcycle.
Women in candy-hued headscarves watched them from the back of embellishedtuk-tuks.
