NOTE.--Further information concerning the Alhambra will be
printed in a future number of The Mentor, devoted to “Beautiful
Buildings of the World.”
[Illustration: A SEVILLE INTERIOR
_The private life of Seville is focused in the inner courts of the
houses. This picture shows the beauty of one of these courts._]
Granada is not especially attractive in itself. It is chiefly a city
of the past. It is the Alhambra that draws the visitor there. This
celebrated building is a dream of Moorish magnificence made real.
It is impossible to do justice to its wondrous beauties in brief
space. An extensive literature has been written in description and
in appreciation of its architectural splendors and of its romantic
interest. Washington Irving has done most for the subject in his “Tales
of the Alhambra.” He lived there for a time, and wrote there during his
stay. You will find his name registered in the visitors’ book under
date of 1829. The Alhambra, like many Moorish buildings, is severely
simple on the outside; but when you enter your senses are captivated by
the exquisite beauty of design and decoration that stretches out before
you as you go through the courts and halls of this wonder palace. While
in the whole it presents an effect of uniformity, there is infinite
variety in detail, and there are countless forms of beauty about you
that captivate the mind and fill the soul with delight.
[Illustration: THE GARDENS OF THE ALCÁZAR, SEVILLE
_The plants and flowers of these gardens are very beautiful._]
Aside from the Alhambra there are two buildings in Granada that
command special attention,--the Palace of Charles V, which adjoins the
Alhambra, and the Palace of the Generalife. Both of them have features
of great architectural beauty. The former building was never completed.
The palace of the Generalife is situated to the east of the Alhambra
and 165 feet higher. It was the summer residence of the Moorish kings.
From there the finest view about Granada can be had, covering the
Alhambra below and stretching far across the _vega_ (plain) to the
distant mountains. The interior of the Generalife in its time must have
been as beautiful as that of the Alhambra. The most beautiful spot
is the garden of the Generalife, with its terraces, pools, grottoes,
hedges, and overhanging trees.