The hidden history of Versailles

The palace looked like a mirage of itself. Water from the canal shimmered under the sun, directing my gaze towards it. The opulent building commanded the landscape, and the landscape seemed made for it. I hopped on my bike. Beams of light strobed through narrow cracks between the trees and my tyres crushed the gravel. As I cycled along a hidden path, crimson tree leaves canopied overhead and open fields sprawled into the distance. There was no one in sight. But just a short distance away inside The Palace of Versailles' opulent ballrooms, thousands of people swarmed.

I was at the Park of Versailles, the 800-hectare playground for the kings, queens and political leaders who made up France's pre-Revolutionary ruling class. Versailles was the centre of power and the material embodiment of absolute monarchy that reigned over France until the Revolution from 1788-1799. The palace bore witness to strategic marriages and state visits. But the whole estate was really constructed for another reason: leisure, with the sweeping park and smaller manicured gardens used for pleasure – and debauchery.

In the centuries since it was built, Versailles has become one of the most famous and visited palaces in the world – a site that sees 27,000 visitors and their selfie sticks crammed into its Hall of Mirrors every day. But outside the palace there's another story, a sprawling one that extends for kilometres and is nearly impossible to cover by foot in a day. That's where the bike paths come in, lining the way to fresh air, solitude and a side to Louis XIV's grand vision that few visitors grasp.

"When you go to the gardens, you're cycling... and you get to know more of the story of Louis XIV, XV and XVI," Mara Alfaro Prias, a Paris-based tour guide, told me over the phone. "It's not just what was behind the paintings or the chandeliers."

It all started in 1623 when Louis XIII built a hunting lodge in the rolling countryside around the small town of Versailles, about 20km south-west of central Paris. But his son, Louis XIV, had bigger plans for the grounds.

"Louis XIV was a bit of an architect," explained Mathieu da Vinha, the scientific director of the Research Centre of the Palace of Versailles. "In Paris he couldn't really enlarge the palaces because the urban tissue was too dense… in Versailles, it was the contrary."

But the king didn't just want more space.

"Louis XIV needed what we would call today a 'bachelor pad' – that is to say, a small house of pleasures… for fun parties with some friends," said Michel Vergé-Franceschi, co-author of the book Une Histoire Érotique de Versailles. "So, he'll create Versailles, partially for his pleasure, for his sexuality, with amazing gardens."

Near the top of the park's Grand Canal, tucked away between cafes and restaurants, there's a stand where visitors can hire bikes. In recent years, I've made biking in Versailles my primary fresh-air escape from my home in Paris (a friend used to bike all the way from Paris to Versailles and inspired me), but I had never ventured much beyond the canal. So this autumn, I strolled through the gardens on my way down to the bike stand, walking past the Latona Fountain, kicking up orange-hued leaves fallen from sculpted trees. I wanted to discover more about the gardens overflowing with flowers and romantic groves.

BBC