The palace and gardens were created in the 1600-1700’s by French kings. The Palace gardens were amazing, we could have spent another day here as the gardens take up 800 hectares. There’s an interactive map here.
Everything was perfectly manicured (and usually arranged symmetrically) from the lawns, hedges, parterres of flowers, lakes and sculptured fountains. The main lake is called the Grand Canal and is 1670m long and 63m wide. It looks like a rowing course and had some some big fish in it. Louis XIV had scale models of ships built and conducted mini war games on it.
We found one fountain that was on (apparently they’re usually only on weekends) that did not repeat its sequence for 10 minutes - amazing considering it’s age. We also looked inside the palace which was over done in every room for example one large corridor had a mirrored hallway 50m long with 10 large chandeliers with painted ceilings and walls covered in intricate decoration.
Down the back of the gardens, about 3km from the palace, is Marie-Antoinette’s Estate which she ordered built in 1783 as a place to escape from the main Palace. Each house had its own little vegetable garden and together with a farm and orchard supplied the palace with food. Versailles was a highlight in Paris.