While I was there I heard a shout behind me (for I had gone ahead of my party) and turning back to them, found the commander of the fort of Suhayl with them. He told me that four galleys belonging to the enemy [the Christian Spanish] had appeared there, and a number of the men on board had landed when the watchman was not in the tower. The horsemen who had just left Marbala, twelve in number, had encountered this raiding force. The Christians had killed one of them, one had escaped, and ten were taken prisoner.
A fisherman was killed along with them, and it was he whose basket I had found lying on the road. The officer advised me to spend the night with him in his quarters, so that he could escort me thence to Milaqa. I passed the night in the castle of the regiment of mounted frontiersmen called the Suhayl regiment. All this time the [Christian] galleys of which we have spoken were lying close by.
The city of Malaga
On the morrow he rode with me and we reached Malaqa [Malaga], which is one of the largest and most beautiful towns of Andalusia. It unites the conveniences of both sea and land, and is abundantly supplied with foodstuffs and fruits. I saw grapes being sold in its bazaars at the rate of eight pounds for a small dirham, and its ruby-coloured Murcian pomegranates have no equal in the world.
As for figs and almonds, they are exported from Malaqa and its outlying districts to the lands both of the East and the West. At Malaqa there is manufactured excellent gilded pottery, which is exported thence to the most distant lands. Its mosque covers a large area and has a reputation for sanctity; the court of the mosque is of unequalled beauty, and contains exceptionally tall orange trees.
Ibn Battuta arrives in Granada
Thence [from Malaga] I went to on the city of Gharnata [Granada], the metropolis of Andalusia and the bride of its cities. Its environs have not their equal in any country in the world.
They extend for the space of forty miles, and are traversed by the celebrated river of Shannil [Xenil] and many other streams. Around it on every side are orchards, gardens, flowery meads, noble buildings, and vineyards. One of the most beautiful places there is “Ayn ad-dama” [the Fountain of Tears], which is a hill covered with gardens and orchards and has no parallel in any other country.
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