The promenade of the towers

In front of the gate ruins that serve as entryway to the remains of the Palace of Yusuf III is the stone paved road of what once was part of the street that joined the inside of the Alhambra Medina to the one of the outside gates, known as the Arrabal.

This is where the Promenade of the Towers, begins. The name is derived from the fact that its route, which follows the main wall of the Alhambra from the Partal Gardens to the Generalife and the Upper Alhambra , passes by a number of towers.

The route passes by the following towers, which standout like milestones along the way: The Tower of the Pointed Battlements, The Tower of the Cadí, the Captive’s Tower, The Infants’ Tower, The Career Corporal’s Towerand the Water Tower.

The walk intermittently crosses a now landscaped terrace over a fortress wall. A railing has been provided to protect visitors and assist them in comfortably enjoying the view of the surroundings. Down below is the lower terrace, which is also landscaped and has various species of trees.

Along the road the visitor can also contemplate one of the loveliest views of the Generalife, with its famous terraced fruit and vegetable gardens, cultivated to this day and separated by large adobe walls, with the white palace in plain sight.

At the Cadí Tower, which rises from this part of the wall, the road steepens as it passes the vegetable gardens and leads to the lower entrance of the site, guarded by large walls; halfway, the visitor will notice a court, portico and a column, from where various ways leading into the gardens extend, and the prolongation of the slope up to the palace.

On the inside of the Alhambra grounds, above the Promenade, on one of the highest terraces, stands the former Monastery of San Francisco, built on the remains of a Nasrid palace. It is now a state-owned hotel.

On the site are the remains of a lovely observation point extending in full view from the building. In this place the Catholic Monarchs had been temporarily interred until the Royal Chapel Pantheon, which today guards their remains, was built.