Jess and I probably spent more time in the gardens than anywhere else in the Alhambra. They offered inviting cool shade, the sounds of birds and trickling water, and were vast enough to give us our own little secluded spot, letting us imagine living for a time in such a fantastically relaxing place.
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| Surprisingly, this long fountain - a part of the Garden of the Architect, and part of the larger Palacio de Generalife - dates back to the early 14th century, and is one of the oldest Moorish gardens in existence. Walking through it, the present beauty and calm of the garden seems too contemporary to be so very old. |
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| Another garden in the Palacio de Generalife, the Courtyard of the Cypress. The cypress that once provided ample shade to at least half this garden is long dead, but its trunk is preserved, strapped to a wall by an iron clasp. |
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| Gardens by the Villa de los Martires (Villa of the Martyrs), so named by Christians for the Christian slaves who were kept in dungeons below ground here while they served as construction workers for the Moorish kings. |
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| Rotate this image clockwise 90 degrees, and you will see the enormous cyprus trunk that once towered above this garden. |
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| A view of the Palacio de Generalife from the rest of the Alhambra |
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| Another view of the gardens by the Villa of the Martyrs |
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| As highlighted in a previous post, only kids seem to know how best to enjoy the fountains of the Alhambra |
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| A view memorializing a much appreciated offering of shade by one of many orange trees in the Generalife gardens |
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| More Generalife gardens |
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