When my ex-husband and I drove a hire car up the west coast of America we had to stop at every bridge so that he could photograph it … and there were a lot of bridges on the west coast of America. I should add, here, that he decided that it was too costly to have the pictures developed so I never did get to see them all. *grin*

*The remains ofa bridge built by Roman prisoners after the defeat of Valerian (C.260AD)

In Iran I found myself photographing bridges and I have decided to devote a page to them, along with a water mill which only peripherally connects with the other photos but the whole thing was suspended over a river, so peripherally or not it would be a pity not to mention it, especially since it was there that Herself saw an otter and pointed it out to me. I didn’t photograph the otter; Herself obviously has keen eyesight because it looked just like a bit of rock until it moved.

The Water Mill - Shushtar

I have also sneaked in a picture of The Phantom Golfer looking over a salt lake - nothing to do with bridges but the water connection is there even though the water itself is long since gone.

The Phantom Golfer looking over salt lakes out of Sarvestan

A couple of the bridges presented here are unidentifiable since they were not featured in our travel notes and I wasn’t writing down everything which Our Fearless Leader said. Perhaps he can put me right if he ever reads this page.

*Partly destroyed after the Russian revolution to prevent the flight of defeated 'White Russians'

I can give a general direction, since my photos are in order but that is as far as I can go … sorry about that. But they are very old - I can tell that just by looking at them. Sasanian, from memory.

*The remains ofa bridge built by Roman prisoners after the defeat of Valerian (C.260AD)

There are three bridges in Esfahan and I had a lot of problems identifying which is which but I think that I have them correct now (thanks to Iran - Persia: Ancient and Modern by Loveday, Wannell, Baumer and Omrani ISBN962-217-751-4).

The most spectacular bridge we saw was the 33-arch bridge over the Zayandeh River, the Si-o-Se pol. It was built around 1600 during the reign of Shah Abbas I.

Si-o-se pol (33-arch bridge), Esfahan

The next one is the pol-e Khaju. It was built by Shah Abbas II in 1650 and has 24 arches. As well as being very decorative it also serves to dam the river which, I understand, is being starved of water - a bit like the River Torrens which runs through Adelaide which has to be dammed or it is just a dry ditch. When they pull the plug out to clean it it makes a very sad sight.

The Pol-e-Khaju, Esfahan

The dammed stretch of river at Esfahan is used for all manner of water sports and there is a Royal box on the pol-e Khaju for a well-connected audience to watch the proceedings.

…and the pol-e Jubi, or Aquaduct Bridge, which we saw and photographed at dusk so this picture is very much enhanced. It is a pity about the big blue building and I could probably blot it out but that would not be how it is so I am resisting the temptation. Originally an aquaduct it has now been covered over.

The Aquaduct Bridge (Pol-e Jubi) - Esfahan

*I would like to thank The Phantom Golfer for putting me right about the provenence of the three old bridges.