Firstly, some history. The following chart shows the monarchical history of Madagascar since it's unification. It's a fascinating story.
The country was first unified by Andrian......... in 1785. To cement the unification he took a wife from each of the tribes, some 21. However, as 12 is an auspicious number in Madagascan animism, he had 12 primary wives, each with a separate "palace" and he spent one month of each year with each. When he died, his first son from his favoured wife from his tribe, the merina, became king. He had no sons, so his daughter became Queen on his death. On her death, her first son, Radama II, became king. He was assassinated by his Prime Minister, Rainil...., who married in turn the next 3 Quuens, essentially being the power in the country. In 1896, this ended when the country became a French colony.
Anyway, the Quuens Palace was burned down in 1995 "for political reasons", and is now being slowly resored.it does however still hold the tombs of some of the Queens and Kings, on the left.
At some 1400m above sea level, it also offers excellent views over the city. To the south...
...and to the north.
Next the Kings Palace, with parts in original conditions since the late 1770s
The blotchy wall on the right is original. Using sand and egg white mortar. At his time it was illegal to eat eggs in Madagascar as they were needed by the King for building.
While photos are not allowed, the old wooden "palace" of the King is in original condition. This is the building on the right in the photo below. The Queens apartments were built much later by the French.
Lunch was had at a Malagasy restaurant of dubious quality, but with a nice view.
Fortunately we were able to make up for the less than auspicious lunch with dinner at arguably Madagascars best restaurant La Varangue.
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