Versailles

A few days ago we booked a bike tour through Blue Bike Tours to go around the Palace and Grounds of Versailles.

Versailles was originally started by King Louis XIII as a hunting lodge, to get away from the stress of being a king.  He did a few expansions to the hunting lodge over the years, but it wasn't until King Louis XIV came around that most of the work to Versailles was done.  King Louis XIV did incredible expansions to Versailles, including building a Palace, a 1km long canal, over 1600 fountains and water features, elaborate horse stables, smaller summer houses, and a bunch of other work.  He was also the one who started to use Versailles, instead of Paris, as the official royal palace for the King of France.

His successors, King Louis XV and King Louis XVI also used Versailles as their primary place of residence, each of them adding new elements to Versailles, but not nearly to the same extent of what King Louis XIV did.  It was, however, King Louis XVI who was married to Marie Antoinette, and built her hamlet, and eventually was the king on the throne during the overthrowing of the Monarchy and French Revolution that lead to both of their beheading.

We met up with our tour group at one of the train stations in Paris, just before 9, and together, the 10 of us caught a couple trains out to Versailles, learning the the history of it from our Parisian tour guide, Agnes.

Once we arrived in Versailles we went to pick up our bikes, and then went to a farmers market to purchase some food for lunch, and snacks along the way.  We then hopped on our bikes and were lead by Agnes around the canal, and through some of the hunting grounds, which took us until 12:30 or so.

We kept a pretty good pace on the bikes, stopping at some of the sites to go explore, and here some more of the history from Agnes, who was a history major and had lots of information about Versailles and the royalty that lived there.

One of the best stops was at Marie Antoinette`s Hamlet, which she had built by King Louis XVI in the style of a farm, except she really didn`t know what farm life was like, so the houses were very elaborate inside.  The setting of this Hamlet was very picturesque, and looked like something in Disney Land, with it`s perfectly manicured lawns, gardens, and cute cottages.

From here it was almost 4pm by the time we got to The Palace, and although the lines were considerably shorter than they were when we arrived first thing in the morning, it was still a 1-hour wait to get in, and once we were in, it was PACKED!

It really was too bad that the palace was as packed with people as it was, because it was really beautiful and had lots of grand things to see, and history to learn, (we had a Rick Steves tour, once again).  But, within the first 30 minutes of being crammed into the hot, sweaty, claustrophobia-inducing palace, we were ready to leave, so did, and slowly made our way back on the train back to Paris, (but not before having McDonalds for dinner!)

We went back to the hotel, rested for a couple hours, and then went to a grocery store nearby around 9pm, to grab some snacks, drinks, and food for tomorrow`s breakfast.  We then hopped on the metro and made our way back to the Eiffel Tower once again to enjoy the lights and just sit back and relax and be tourists :)

Day 2 - Thanks Rick Steves!

While we were atop the Acropolis yesterday we encountered 2 couples walking around listening to their iPod, playing an audio tour by travel expert, Rick Steves.  They raved about how great the tour was, and how informational it was, so, although a little jealous we didn't have him to guide us through the Acropolis, we licked our wounds and downloaded the City Tour and Ancient Agora Tour for today.

The City Tour started us at the Syntygma Square, where the Greek Constitution was formed and where the Greek Parliament exists.  This is also the location of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is guarded by the two soldiers shown standing under the roof of the little huts in the image below.

The tour then took through Ermou Road, an absolute fantastic pedestrian walkway/shopping corridor, that has a very rich history of shopping, debauchery, and political protests and assassinations.  From here, we walked through the Plaka and down to Hadrian's Arch, and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  We walked around here for a bit, saw the ruins, and made our way to the Panathenaic Stadium, which is both an ancient ruin restored, as well as the track that saw the 2004 Olympic Archery Shoot and Marathon finish (not both at the same time, mind you ;)  The photo below shows Lindsay, sitting listening to Rick Steves, with the Temple of Olympian Zeus in the backdrop.

The next photo was taken purely for Heather Boyko and Courtney Almendros, with whom Lindsay traveled Europe with 11 years ago.  "These are pineapple trees!" Lindsay informed me; she is not a credible source of Greek Botany.

After Hadrian's Arch and the "pineapple trees" we followed the tour along through winding roads, narrow corridors, and steep walkways to the suburb of Anafiotika.

Anafiotika is a time warp from the old days and people of Anafi, who moved to Athens and tried to maintain and keep their Cycladic traditions and lifestyles alive.  Today it is still inhabited by many of the descendants of the original Anafians, but is also being bought up by many rich Athenians who want to experience an island getaway in the heart of Athens.

The tour eventually took us to one of the Plaka centres and restaurants, where we ate our modest lunch (18 euro for both of us) and enjoyed the cool of the shade and the high-powered fans that also spray a watery mist, to act as a crude outdoor air conditioner.

After lunch we powered through the final tour we had of Rick Steves on the Ancient Agora.  Time was against us, as it closed at 3pm, but thankfully we made it through 90% of it before closing.  Lindsay is standing here, below, in the long corridor of the Stoa of Attalos.  It is a modern reconstruction of an ancient building, where people gathered to discuss politics and philosophy.  The Ancient Agora was wandered by many great minds in such a short period of time: Socrates, his pupil Plato, and his pupil Aristotle.

From here we went back into the Plaka and found ourselves sitting in an Internet hub updating our blog, looking at photos, and cooling off.  We plan on heading back to the hotel, cooling off a bit more, possibly showering and changing before we head out for a later dinner and stroll through the Plaka and the, before going to bed around 9 or 10.  Tomorrow we are renting a car and travelling up to Delphi and Meteora, so we'll see how the driving goes...Athens is nuts!