The Alhambra and the Generalife

The Water Stairway

To reach the highest part of the Generalife you take the Water Stairway, leftover—if substantially altered—from an earlier site, famous for its water, which flowed from the Sultan’s Canal through pipes in the walls.

Water once flowed into three circular basins from as many pipes, now lost; however, water from the Royal Canal continues to flow down inverted pan tiles along the stairway parapets.