The Generalife Palace (III)

From the Royal Hall, through a door and staircase opened in its side during the Christian era, you access other areas of the Palace; from here, everything has been significantly modified.

Next, you arrive at the Court of the Sultana’s Cypress Tree, the setting of imaginary love legends with a character very different from Hispano-Muslim traditions. A fountain, surrounded by a U-shaped pool equipped with Baroque-era water jets, centres the Patio, which opens to a gallery resembling a pavilion with an upper floor, built between 1584 and 1586.

At the other end, through the so-called Gate of the Lions and up a steep staircase, you reach the High Gardens of the Palace, also heavily modified to suit Western tastes.

Skirting the upper wall of the Patio of the Cypress of the Sultan’s Wife, you arrive at the start of the Water Stairway, the last remaining Muslim vestige of the Generalife. The stairway ascends in three stages, shaded by a laurel canopy. Along its walls, channels carry cool, fresh water from the Royal Acequia, whose gentle murmur creates an atmosphere of meditation and relaxation.

The stairway leads to the highest point of the estate, where a romantic 19th-century lookout was built. This spot offers one of the best views of Granada.

From there, a modern staircase with a pergola descends to the lower garden, where you can access a viewpoint overlooking the Patio of the Acequia, also providing delightful panoramas.

At one end of this garden is the Gate of the Mercería, or Gate of the Rams, which leads down to the start of the Walk of the Oleanders. At the far end, facing a small square with an old building, there is a resting area with pleasant views of the Alhambra. Nearby, on a lower level, lie the remains of the House of Friends, a building once part of the Palace that was destroyed.

The Walk of the Oleanders, named after the beautiful canopy formed by these plants, is the final path of the Generalife visit.

Finally, the following verses are dedicated to you, dear traveller, in search of your "garden of gardens" at the Generalife:

Upon this palace of unparalleled beauty,
shines the greatness of the Sultan.
Its beauty and flowers shine,
generously covered by the rain of clouds.
The hands of its creators embroidered its sides
with patterns that seem like garden flowers (...)
Ibn al-Yayyab