The Alhambra has been so often and so minutely described by other travelers that a mere sketch of our experience will suffice here. I will give therefore but a brief account of our visit to it the morning after our arrival in Granada.
The Alhambra is an ancient fortress and palace of the Moorish kings of Granada. Here they held dominion over this their boasted terrestrial paradise and made their last stand for the empire of Spain. The palace occupies but a portion of the fortress, the walls of which, studded with towers, stretch irregularly round the whole crest of a lofty hill that overlooks the city and forms a spur of the Sierra Nevada where the snow can still be seen atop its apex. Massive towers and gates surround the palace complex emphasizing its fortress-like character.
We chose a guided tour of this remarkable complex, which included a bus ride the one and one half blocks it took to get there from our hotel. The road up into the Alhambra park passes through a triumphal arch decorated with three pomegranates. Above the gate's first horseshoe arch there is a carved hand. The second horseshoe arch is decorated with many Arab inscriptions. There are beautiful blue and green tiles. Thereafter we came to the entrance to the Alhambra Palace itself. Inside there are the former buildings of the fortress. The main section is a hall centered around four columns and a fountain and a court with a magnificent pool in the center. A gallery supported by 124 elegant white marble columns surrounds this rectangular courtyard. Its arches are semicircular, with a wedge-shaped stone structure. Special mention should be made of the wooden ceiling in one of the galleries. The alabaster lamp-stands with ceramics at the back, located in the jambs of the doorway were also impressive. By the door to one of the Emperor's rooms there is a tablet recalling that Washington Irving, the author of The Alhambra, stayed there.
I took as many notes as I could but to get a better description of this mighty complex I suggest you visit the web site http://www.red2000.com/spain/granada/alhamb.html. Here you will get more accurate detail of the Alhambra and the gardens of the Generalife.
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