Tea at Trianon: Where Two Ancient Civilizations Meet

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Where Two Ancient Civilizations Meet

From Travel Awaits:

On Spain’s magnificent Costa Brava, in the province of Girona, an invisible time portal beckons you to enter and explore the region’s distant past. The Empuries Archeological Site presents the remains of the Ancient Greek city of Emporium and the Roman city of Emporiae, which for a time existed peacefully side-by-side. This was the gateway through which the Greek and Roman empires introduced their culture to the Iberian Peninsula.

Empuries is located approximately 40 minutes from Girona and approximately 2 hours from Barcelona by car. A bus or train will also get you there, making it an ideal day trip. If you stay in either city, you can book a guided bus tour, but this will limit your time at Empuries and allow you less flexibility. (Read more.)