and covers an area of about or 35 acres. It stands on a narrow promontory overlooking the Vega or Plain of Granada and carved by the river Darro on its north side as it descends from the Sierra Nevada. The red earth from which the fortress is constructed is a granular aggregate held together by a medium of red clay which gives the resulting layered brick- and stone- reinforced construction (tapial calicastrado) its characteristic hue and is at the root of the name of 'the Red Hill'. The Alhambra's most westerly feature is the Alcazaba, a large fortress overlooking the city. Due to touristic demand, modern access runs contrary to the original sequence which began from a principal access via the Puerta de la Justicia (Gate of Justice) onto a large souq or public market square facing the Alcazaba, now subdivided and obscured by later Christian-era development. From the Puerta del Vino (Wine Gate) ran the Calle Real (Royal Street) dividing the Alhambra along its axial spine into a southern residential quarter, with mosques, hamams (bathhouses) and diverse functional establishments, and a greater northern portion, occupied by several palaces of the nobility with extensive landscaped gardens commanding views over the Albaicín. All of this was subservient to the great Tower of the Ambassadors in the Palacio Comares (Comares Palace), which acted as the royal audience chamber and throne room with its three arched windows dominating the city. The private, internalised universe of the Palacio de Los Leones (Palace of the Lions) adjoins the public spaces at right angles (see Plan illustration) but was originally connected only by the function of the Comares Baths (or Royal Baths), the Mirador de Lindaraja serving as the exquisitely decorated focus of meditation and authority overlooking the refined garden courtyard of Lindaraja/Daraxa toward the city. The rest of the plateau comprises a number of earlier and later Moorish palaces, enclosed by a fortified wall, with thirteen defensive towers, some such as the Torre de la Infanta and Torre de la Cautiva containing elaborate vertical palaces in miniature. The river Darro passes through a ravine on the north and divides the plateau from the Albaicín district of Granada. Similarly, the Sabika Valley, containing the Alhambra Park, lies on the west and south, and, beyond this valley, the almost parallel ridge of Monte Mauror separates it from the Antequeruela district. Another ravine separates it from the Generalife,