1936 On the Continent

city the most precious perfumes for a song. True, this is only a rumour I heard and I did not verify it, probably because I do not use the stuff.
    Malaga is a favourite winter resort of the rich from all European countries, but particularly from Britain. There is a fairly large English colony and also an English church. There is also—I understand—a resident English doctor and an English cemetery, though, of course, you will require neither.
    If you insist on knowing something about the sights, I will mention the Gibralfaro, which is a castle on a hill. It was rebuilt by the Moors on the site of a Phoenician fortress, and is now in the charge of the Municipality, from whom you can easily obtain permission to go through it.
    Naturally, the
P. N. T.
has an office and interpreters in Malaga, and they will gladly advise you on all matters relating to sights, and also to excursions. They will also recommend you a café, though you can obtain lovely ices at most of these places. The Español, Peninsular, Madrid and Paris are a few of them.
Granada
    This is the one place in Spain where I have no hesitation in pointing out the sights, and also talking about them. But first let me tell you something about the city as a whole, one of the three most interesting cities in Spain besides Toledo and Seville.
    Granada is a city of arid heat, almost surrounded by snow-capped mountains, yet with palm trees growing in her streets. Before the city stretches the
vega
, a wide plain, lovely and fertile, which is still watered by the contrivance installed by the Moors. One cannot help thinking of the desert that stretches between Madrid and Toledo, which might have been made just as lovely as the
vega
here.
    Above Granada stands the Alhambra among the woods, perhaps the most magnificent edifice in the world. Here you always hear the bubbling and splashing of living waters and, in spring, the song of the nightingales.
    Granada as a whole has a voluptuous atmosphere which you would sense even if you went there with your eyes bandaged. But heaven forbid that you should do that, although if you go over it, guide-book in hand, ascertaining the dimensions of everything, that amounts to the same thing.
    A characteristic feature of Granada are the
Gitanas
or gipsies, who are decidedly picturesque, with manners and customs of their own. The fact that they are careful to preserve all this, since being picturesque is their living, does not make them less interesting. They live in caves beyond the Albaicin, the old northern part of the city, almost like the troglodytes in Northern Africa. You will meet them everywhere in Granada, young and old, male and female, offering to tell your fortune, or to dance for your special benefit and so on. Some of the young females dance rather well, but you must agree beforehand what you are going to pay, otherwise you may be involved in a rather embarrassing scene after the performance. If you happen to carry a cine camera you may film the dance—and the Spanish customs will allow you to bring in a cine camera free of duty. Some of the gipsies, particularly the youngsters, are persistent beggars, but they do it so charmingly that it does not occur to you to compare them with the Spanish beggars elsewhere.
The Alhambra
    But let us go to the Alhambra, the glory of Granada and of all Spain. You can best get to it from the lower town through the Cuesta de Gomerez, a twenty-minute walk. Do not take a taxi, unless you must, though taxis in Granada are not bad. The view of the city from the Alhambra Gardens is magnificent. From that angle Granada looks as if it were made of ivory. If you want rest or refreshment before you go to the Alhambra Palace, the Alhambra Palace Hotel and the English Pension are just outside the gardens, and you will find equally good establishments within the walls.
    Now the Palace of the Alhambra, like Granada as a whole, has a long history, some knowledge of which decidedly enhances your appreciation of the wonders you see in it. But I will assume that you possess that knowledge, and I will give you no more of it than is inevitable in the context. However, it is perhaps an advantage to enter the Palace of the Alhambra without too much knowledge of its history, for the Palace itself will tell you a great deal, and that is much better.
    The exterior will disappoint you, mainly because thereis a great deal of modern work on it. But the exterior does not count. The interior will get you from the