Cheerful water, Cordoba, Spain. The Alcazar gardens are typically Moorish in their delight at splashing, singing water and colorful, aromatic plants. I arrived at the gate of the Alcazar with just under a half hour before they closed for siesta, and they told me they could not admit me because there wasn't enough time.

I said by the time they reopened I would be on a train to Seville, and began to sadly walk away, for I had seen just a glimpse of the wonderland beyond the high fortress walls, and could hear the delicious sound of the water.

At the last possible moment, the stern woman at the ticket desk said "Wait! Can you promise me that you will return in 20 minutes?"

It was a most amazing twenty minutes.