Detail of the fence at Palais de Versailles. Photo / Getty Images
Detail of the fence at Palais de Versailles. Photo / Getty Images
The fortunes of a humble village changed when Louis XIV built his splendid palace nearby
When I tell people I am visiting Versailles, they assume I am visiting the palace, Louis XIV's golden and glittering Unesco-listed architectural masterpiece. But it's the not the palace I have come to explore; it's Versailles the city, established in the late 1600s and 16 kilometres or so southwest of Paris.
Originally a small village, Versailles was urbanised by Louis XIV to ensure his palace's magnificence was reflected in its surroundings. Under royal direction, wide avenues, octagonal squares (the first in France), aristocratic mansions and a grand church were installed in what is now known as Versailles' Notre-Dame district.
It's to the church I head first. From the Place d'Armes in front of the palace, I walk north past the horseshoe-shaped King's Stables, home to the renowned Academy of Equestrian Art and a carriage museum filled with fairy-tale coaches that once carried kings and queens from Versailles to Paris.
I cross the busy Avenue de Saint-Cloud and enter the elegant tree-lined rue Hoche. It's typical of Versailles — the street's stately town houses are painted in bourgeois shades of beige, taupe and fawn. Scarlet clusters of geraniums and deep green ivy trail from wrought-iron window boxes, adding sudden vivid splashes of colour.
At the end of rue Hoche I find Notre-Dame, built in the Classic style during the 1680s.
The church is impressive but its height is limited, a result of one of Louis XIV's planning rules prohibiting any building in Versailles — including a house of God — from outshining his palace.
The church is just one of two remaining buildings in Versailles that retains its regally approved original facade. Others, including the residence of Madame de Pompadour — the favourite mistress of Louis XV - have been embellished, heightened and rebuilt over the centuries.
Mirror's hall of Versailles Chateau. Photo / 123RF
Inside the church, I watch two women light candles and consider a memorial plaque, behind which lies the heart of General Hoche, a Versailles-born hero of the French Revolution.
Kneeling, the women lower their heads and pray, just as the visiting crowned heads of Europe did here before the demise of the French monarchy in the 1790s.
From the church, I turn left to the busy Notre-Dame market area, created by Louis XIV in 1669. Much grown in size and considered the region's finest, the market is a mixture of open-air stalls and indoor halls, devoted to specific foodstuffs including cheese, flour, herbs and seafood. Hungry Parisians rub shoulders with locals, searching for the best local produce, including snails seasoned with garlic, truffles just snuffled from the ground and long stalks of curly kale, green as moss, tied with string. Something sweeter catches my eye, though. I buy five Macarons d'Antoinette; beautiful pale pink confections said to be the favourite of Marie Antoinette - the perfect royal snack to nibble on as I explore the rest of the city.
CHECKLIST
Getting there: Travelling from central Paris, catch the RER C line, buy a ticket to Versailles Rive Gauche (also known as Versailles-Chateau), not Versailles Chantiers — the former is closest to the palace and city.
Accommodation: If you're on a budget, check out the Hotel du Cheval Rouge, with comfortable, basic rooms overlooking the Notre-Dame market area. Double rooms are available from $156 per night for two.
For something more upmarket, try L'Orangerie White Palacio, a very pretty 18th-century hideaway in a quiet secluded garden offering two well-furnished apartments for $213 per night.
Did you know? The modern method of tennis scoring is said to have originated in the city of Versailles.
Top tips: Don't turn up at a Versailles restaurant in the early evening; most don't open until 7.30pm. Avoid late afternoon/early evening trains back to Paris; they can be standing room only or full.
Further information: Visit the Versailles tourist office for a good free city guide. Some excellent historical city walks (taking in the Royal Kitchen Gardens, museums and St-Louis Cathedral Square, below) are detailed in the tourist office's guide.
Notre-Dame's outdoor market opens 7am-2pm on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays; the indoor market opens 7am-7.30pm on Tuesday to Saturday and on Sundays 7am-2pm.
