Glad you liked! I´m planning on taking you there next summer... Segovia is a town to the north of Madrid, and it takes only an hour to get there. La Granja is in the outskirts.
Answering your question Bonnie: this palace was a copy of Versailles. It was built in the 18th century by Philip V, who was French, and a grandson of Louis XIV. He wanted to reproduce his native abode in some manner in his favorite summer residency.
-- Edited by mara on Sunday 31st of May 2009 03:21:29 PM
OOOhhhhhh Mara.............thank you for allowing us to live vicarously thru you! La Grania Palace truly is a 'petite' Versailles. Do you know if it was built before or after Versaille? (I suppose I could look that question up myself....lol)!
And girl.....you were so fortunate to be there on one of the days they turned on the fountains! What an incredible sight!
When we make it to Spain, this is one of the Places I'd so love to visit! :)
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"Hell begins on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts which we have wasted, of all that we might have done which we did not do" ~~Gian Carlo Menotti~~
I´ll spare you the history lesson about our Spanish petit Versailles (here´s the link if you´re interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Granja_(palace) ) The thing is, I was hiking around the palace grounds yesterday. The 26 monumental fountains are on only twice a year, because my country suffers from endemic drought and we cannot afford wasting water. But yesterday we had a blast playing with tons of water gallons: according to tradition, the fountain operators shower visitors, so if you get near a fountain you´ll end up soaked...
Here´s some pics of this magical, incredible place. To think that the king who built all this at the expense of the populace´s famine was a tyrant who preferred to spend his days here musing on his chronic depression, away from the Madrid court and playing hooky on his Spanish government duties... it´s another story (sorry, monarchies are not really my cup of tea).
-- Edited by mara on Sunday 31st of May 2009 03:57:00 AM