Days in the Gardens of Spain

[April 24, Granada]

   Listen to Manuel de Falla as you look at these photos of the Generalife Gardens. Though part of the Alhambra complex, they well reward a visit in themselves, especially in spring. They spread up a steep hill across from the Alhambra and provide beautiful views of same. They, along with the lovely "summer palace" were built by Moorish rulers of Granada as a get-away from the business and summer heat of the main Alhambra palace. Today they give the visitor some sense of the luxury and elegance of the Moorish court.

 

To the Moors, from a dry desert world, water was the essence of paradise. The Moors played with water and rejoiced in its every form more than anyone else. The banister of this stone stairway is a constant cascade of running water.

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