This was a very picturesque walk. Six of us set out together. The first part winds along through villages, houses with vegetable plots and fruit trees, rushing stream, little ups and downs.
Then up over a hill we found some ruins that maybe my resourceful brother can identify – several separate towers with no walls between. Here’s an interior shot too. I’ve been told that it is the remains of a 19th C French aqueduct. It is quite different the Roman aqueducts.
People tending their plots…
Making do in the absence of a bar at the Abadía of Sacromonte…
Admiring the driving skills…
At last, the Alhambra comes into view…
Seeing Clarely 
This Camino is very interesting to me. Hmm, may just have to check it out for myself.
Yes, the ruins are part of the remains of the “Canal de los Franceses”, built in the late 19th century to bring water to the Cerro del Oro (Hill of Gold) that has been mined since Roman times. According to the blog of El Grupo Español de Investigación Paranormal, the old aqueduct is associated with many mysteries and legends, including a local goblin.
Maybe I need to walk back and have another look!
Hmm. Can you look into the conflicting info in the other comment? 😀
It is always risky to take the word of anyone who warns of goblins (or maybe it was elves or leprechauns, the translation of “duende” is ambiguous, so I assumed the other commenter was correct, but it is not clear.
According to http://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/80235, the Canal de los Franceses has two parts, one from the Beas river (Canal de Beas-Almecín) and one in the river basin of the Darro- and the Aguas Blancas (White Waters) river (Canal de Aguas Blancas). The Canal de Beas-Almecín was constructed on top of a system built by Muḥammad V in the second half of 14th century, reusing a mining water channel from Roman times, opened to take out the gold resources from the Hill of the Sun.
The ruins in the photo, however, appear (to me) to be “Las Torres”, 11 towers on the Canal de Aguas Blancas. According to http://www.emasagra.es/DOC/Historia_Canal_Franceses.pdf, despite occasional incorrect claims, neither the Romans nor Muslims had a channel here, so all the ruins along Canal de Aguas Blancas are 19th Century.
Happy to hear you are finding your groove. The towers in your pictures are not from the French aqueduct, although there is one in the area, but rather a Muslim one: the Acequia medicinal Mazarin de Beas, dating to the 14th c.
http://oppidumeleberis.blogspot.ca/2016/03/barranco-de-dudar-valle-deldarro-zona.html
Walking the riverbed does not look like fun. And the surroundings, quite poor, right?
Happy trails!
Marie-Anne
I guess I’ll have to compare that with some other info when I get back. The riverbed walking is very tiring!
It’s dangereous walking those narrow streets… did you visit the Alhambra???
I visited there 2 years ago, so I didn’t try to get tickets this time.