The palace and courtyard is full of grand halls with bright tapestries and smooth floors for dancing, and tiny nooks, little stone hide-aways for a pretense of privacy or quiet; sweeping gardens a carefully organized riot of scent and colour, and high-hedged mazes to go get lost in the green.
Between the ivy and jasmine, roses and pennants, only about half of the gray stone of the castle and surrounding grounds is really visible, courtyards taken over by bright silk tents and wooden stalls to provide for shelter and entertainment of all the eagerly awaited guests.