all golden and lovely it blazed in the sunset , with walls , temples , colonnades and arched bridges of veined marble , silver-basined fountains of prismatic spray in broad squares and perfumed gardens , and wide streets marching between delicate trees and blossom-laden urns and ivory statues in gleaming rows ; while on steep northward slopes climbed tiers of red roofs and old peaked gables harbouring little lanes of grassy cobbles .