At length we have reached the terraced roof, and may take breath for
a moment, while we cast a general eye over the splendid panorama of
city and country; of rocky mountain, verdant valley, and fertile
plain; of castle, cathedral, Moorish towers, and Gothic domes,
crumbling ruins, and blooming groves. Let us approach the battlements,
and cast our eyes immediately below. See, on this side we have the
whole plain of the Alhambra laid open to us, and can look down into
its courts and gardens. At the foot of the tower is the Court of the
Alberca, with its great tank or fishpool, bordered with flowers; and
yonder is the Court of Lions, with its famous fountain, and its
light Moorish arcades; and in the centre of the pile is the little
garden of Lindaraxa, buried in the heart of the building, with its
roses and citrons, and shrubbery of emerald green.
That belt of battlements, studded with square towers straggling
round the whole brow of the hill, is the outer boundary of the
fortress. Some of the towers, you may perceive, are in ruins, and
their massive fragments buried among vines, fig-trees and aloes.
Let us look on this northern side of the tower. It is a giddy
height; the very foundations of the tower rise above the groves of the
steep hill-side. And see I a long fissure in the massive walls,
shows that the tower has been rent by some of the earthquakes, which
from time to time have thrown Granada into consternation; and which,
sooner or later, must reduce this crumbling pile to a mere mass of
ruin.
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