Princes' Garden (Bahg-e-shazadeh) - Mahan

Wherever there is water in Iran there are gardens. Not wild, overgrown gardens like mine, but formal manicured gardens which are a delight to the eyes.

The Forty-pillared Palace - Esfahan

The use of shape and colour was very well planned and all the gardens had running water features. Unfortunately, with winter just around the corner a lot of the pools and channels had been emptied for cleaning with their fountains turned off.

Narenjenstan (Orangery) Garden - Shiraz

A particular aspect of Iranian water features is the small bubbling water outlets rather than fountains which were a foreign concept. Thus you see water just bubbling to the surface of the pools. Although there are many fountains in Iran I suspect that the Iranians feel that they are rather a waste of water as they markedly increase evaporation.

Narenjenstan (Orangery) Garden - Shiraz

The main display of fountains which I saw was in the Royal Square (The Maydan). This Square was the symbolic centre of the Safavid Dynasty and was used, among other things, for polo matches with the Shah watching from the balcony of the Presentation Palace.

Garden around the Royal Harem - Esfahan

The gardens, with their shady trees and cool water are a stark contrast to the surrounding countryside with its dry, barren hills and flat empty plains.

Mahmoudi House - Yazd

Where there is water there is also irrigation and Iran grows rice, sugarcane and pistachio nuts among the many fruit and vegetables produced, as well as spices such as saffron. There were many stalls in the bazaars which sold a great variety of spices and nuts. Unfortunately only the saffron was packaged for export.

Garden around the Pavillion, Qazvin (I think)