The layout of the gardens.
Claude Monet is best known for his paintings of water lilies.
He produced almost 250 of them. His gardens, and especially his pond of water lilies in the lower portion of his property, were his primary inspiration in the later years of his life.
In the small town of Giverny, about 70 km west of Paris, you can visit The House and Gardens of Claude Monet and experience the source of his inspiration. The gardens are extensive with many rose bushes, fruit trees, and ornamental trees. But it is the pond on the lower level where the lilies grow that is the main attraction.
The Gardens open in April and close at the end of October. Our guide, who picked me up at my hotel and brought our small group of five to the Gardens, did not have a favorite season. He finds beauty in the gardens at all times of the year, just that it's a different beauty on each occasion. If you go with a small group tour you go directly into the pond area and out the front through the gift shop. You skip the line.
This tour was organized for me by Monograms Travel. They offer the independent traveler the support to make travel easy by arranging all transfers, booking your hotel room, holding an introductory city tour with a small group and optional tours if you like. They have a person on duty at the hotel to receive you and answer any questions you have. It's really quite unique. I'll be writing about the experience with them as well as about highlights from the trip in future posts. Over the next few months you can expect:
- Rome & Paris: From the Eternal City to the City of Light (An overview of the entire trip.)
- Rome: The What and Why of the Eternal City
- New Skills from Paris and Rome to Enjoy at Home
- Food Tours Offer Much More than Tasty Bites
- A new 32 Tips post on Rome
- An updated 32 Tips post on Paris
And, of course, this post, a photos essay on A Day in Monet’s Gardens.
When you go with a small tour rather than independently, you enter at the exit so that you go right to the lily ponds.
We'll start with views of the pond which was man-made. Apparently, townspeople were concerned that it would draw too much water from their source when it was first created but this did not turn into a problem.
It was October when I visited and there were only three lonely water lilies left in the pond.
When taking a photo like this it helps to have some framing in the foreground to give the picture depth.
The stream that feeds the pond.
Like any good garden, it is beautiful at all times of year. The colors in the fall were very rich.
This is a view of the upper gardens. You can see the entrance to Monet's house through the arches.
Monet's house overlooks the gardens.
The Museum at Giverny does not hold the best of the Monets. For those you need to go to the Musée d'Orsay where they have his Blue Water Lillies or the Musée Marmottan Monet in the 16th arrondissement, which has his private collection and works of many of his contemporaries as well.
As always, there's a gift shop at the end.
This trip is a project managed by iambassador in partnership with Monograms Travel and other sponsors. Of course, Solo Traveler maintains full editorial control of the content published on this site.
