Al Khattíb refers to the Citadel of Granada in these terms: “The southern part of the city is commanded by the suburb of the Alhambra or Medina Alhamra, the court of the sultanate, crowning it with its turrets, its lofty towers, its strong bastions, its magnificent Alcazar, and other sumptuous edifices, which by their splendour ravish the eye and the soul. There is, too, such an abundance of waters that, overflowing in torrents from the tanks and reservoirs, they form on the declivity streams and cascades, whose sonorous murmurs are heard afar on. At the foot of the walls are spacious gardens, the domain of the Sultan, and leafy groves, through the dense greenery of which the white battlements gleam like stars. There is, in short, around the circuit of the walls, no spot that is not planted with gardens and orchards.” The scene has not greatly changed since the Arab wrote. Gurgling brooks still run down the slopes of the Alhambra Hill, and nightingales sing in the thick woods of elm. The Alcazaba, being the oldest part of the palace-fortress, should be studied first. It is entered by the Torre and Casa de las Armas, through a horseshoe arch in red brick, with fine azulejos or glazed tiles. To the left is the Torre de Homenage, with which war and time have not dealt too gently. It contains, it is interesting to note, a Roman votive altar, embedded by the Moorish builders in the masonry, and inscribed by “the grateful Valerius to his most indulgent wife, Cornelia.” At the opposite extremity of the Alcazaba is the Torre de la Vela, or Watch Tower. It is in two storeys, communicating by a dark and narrow staircase, with loopholes in the wall.[D] In this tower is hung a famous bell, to be heard, it is said, at Loja, thirty miles away. It is rung on the anniversary of the Conquest of Granada, on which day it is the custom, according to local superstition, for damsels, desirous of husbands, to strike it with all their strength. On the summit of this tower the cross was first planted by _el tercer rey_, Cardinal Mendoza. The view from the platform, of city and snow-clad Sierra, luxuriant Vega, and white-walled towns and villages, is as extensive as it is beautiful. At the foot of the Torre de la Vela extends the place of arms, defended by two towers, now styled de los Hidalgos and de la Polvora, and formerly known as the Paniagua and Cristóbal del Salto--names suggesting legends now forgotten. An ancient document at Simancas names among the towers connecting the Alcazaba with the rest of the fortress, the Torre del Adarguero, “the Tower in which dwelleth the servant of Doctor Ortiz,” the Torre de Alquiza, the Torre de Hontiveros (now the Torre de las Gallinas), and the Tower and Room of Machuca. Of these remains exist, but of another tower, referred to as the Torre de la Tahona, no trace remains.