Palace of Versailles Gardens

If going to Paris do make time and do a day trip to Versailles, couple of years ago, I thought it was time. The palace and gardens are breathtaking. It’s an amazing place not to be missed and I will be back. I would recommend taking one of the small tours that skip the lines, they are long!. (As you can see by my photos) I was SO happy I did that.

The Garden of Versailles is spread across 1,976 acres, and is one of the biggest gardens in the world. 210,000 flowers and 200,000 trees are planted annually in The Garden of Versailles. UNESCO designated the palace and its gardens a World Heritage site in 1979.

The Gardens of Versailles were planned by André Le Nôtre, perhaps the most famous and influential landscape architect in French history. Behind the palace, the ground falls away on every side from a terrace adorned with ornamental basins, statues, and bronze groups.

Directly west of the terrace is the Latona Fountain, designed by Le Nôtre and sculpted by Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy. The fountain depicts the events of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The Royal Walk extends westward from the palace. A broad avenue centered on the grass of the Green Carpet, it is flanked by rows of large trees and ends at the spectacular Fountain of Apollo. All spectacular.