Los Reales Alcazares - Patio de las Doncellas

This Palatine fortress takes it's name from the Arab Alquasr. It was built in 1364 and is where Ferdanand and Isabella (the queen who bank-rolled Christopher Columbus) were married.

The name of this garden means "The Courtyard of the Maidens", refers to the legend that the Moors demanded 100 virgins every year as tribute from Christian kingdoms in Iberia. The story of the tribute may have been used as a myth to bolster the  Reconquista movement, but it may have had some truth to it in the sexual abuse of Christian women by powerful Moors