Iolani Palace
10 Reviews for Iolani Palace
the only palace on American soil....free to locals on kamaiana Sundays.
Lots of history. ushers were very knowledgeable. I don't want to give the details away...just go..
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Pretty good as far as self-guided audio tours go, if you're into that kind of thing. I think this was right for me (I prefer not to go at the pace of a guided tour). The audio tour was very very thorough, so at times it seemed a bit too much; I kind of wanted to get a move on.
Otherwise, it is very educational and worth the $12. You will learn about the history of Hawaii, and if nothing else, learn how to pronounce all the long street names and learn about the people for whom they were named.
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In college, I lived in a dorm apartment building named after Queen Liliuokalani, but I never understood her story nor why she is so revered until I visited Iolani Palace. This is a "must-do" for tourists to Oahu who want to understand more about Hawaii's troubled past and the genesis of today's questions of sovereignty and self-determination.
Take the $12 tour - it's not worth it just to see the basement museum and it should be sufficient to take the audio tour without the guide in case you're pressed for dollars. Give yourself some time to view the items on display in the basement. They are the crown jewels of the Hawaiian kingdom, and they'll give you the shivers.
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I'm sure the rest of the palace is beautiful. Just that I took the 'cheap' tour and only had access to the basement with some rooms that displayed some of the royal jewelry, furniture, china and the royal headgear.
You have to watch the video before entering the palace to get a brief history of the place and Hawaii's past monarchy. It's sort of sad. Chalk it up to the haoles to mess up a beautiful thing (Hawaii back in the day) when it was fine without them.
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The only royal palace on US soil, it was the home to Hawaii's monarchy before annexation. You can cheap it up and look around the basement for like 6 bucks, but if you go it's worth paying a little bit more for the 90 minute tour, or at least the audio tour. You have to wear denim booties over your feet to avoid scuffing the floor, and you feel kinda watched over by the attendees, the house is beautiful, but a lot of the rooms are very sparsely decorated. Still it's another good cultural stop in the middle of Honolulu, but parking is extremely limited and meters on the street are $0.25 for 10 minutes!
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Beautiful, serene, elegant, and all those Archetectual Digest words that make you green with envy. But if you've got a Hamilton or two, you can pretend you live in a palace and play house with the Hawaiian Monarchy for a couple of hours.
You have to say one thing about Hawaiians...they love their women rulers! Queen Lili`uokalani lived at Iolani Palace after her monarchy was overthrown. It's the only royal residence in the U.S., if you don't count Hyannis Port in Massachusetts. Gotta love that Jackie O.!
Poor sista was stuck in that place like a P.O.W., and she refer ed to it as her prison, a place that was once precious and joyful but then destroyed her spirit with every moment that passed. Sad.
The Queen was a bad ass, btw...she kicked some serious boo-tay, and tried her best to keep her Hawaii intact. The man, however, took her down...she did not go without a fight, y'all.
She's also the composer of that great song, Aloha 'oe...the one that you hear when you step off the airplane and onto Hawaiian soil. Multi-talented monarch, strong woman of substance, and a sad reminder of what happens to tough bitches in America, if left vulnerable for even a second.
Queen Lili`uokalani and Martha Stewart...I salute you!
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My airport shuttle driver recommended touring Iolani Palace. When hanging out of the beach wasn't an option because of constant rain I decided to take his advice.
The Palace was built in 1882 by King Kalakaua. His sister Queen Lili`uokalani also lived (and for a time was imprisoned) there. Restoration began in the 1970s and today the Palace is a great place to learn more about the rich history and heritage of Hawaii.
I highly recommend taking the audio tour -it's well done and provides a lot of background information not just about the Palace but about Hawaii generally. While the Gallery-only tour is half the price at $6 don't be tempted by it as you won't get to see the inside of the Palace that way.
Iolani Palace is a special treasure and well worth an hour or two away from the beach.
NOTES:
Street parking is fairly easy on weekdays around the Palace, bring change to feed the meters.
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Kinda sad that most of the furniture is gone. The history is sad, too. But the information is worth having, if only so you can keep your eyes open for some of the long-lost furniture from the Hawaiian Royal Palace.
And the paper booties you have to wear while inside are the shit!
We took a tour of the Palace while we were in HI. They herded you into this room to watch a video first (geez, there's a lot of video watching in HI. The snorkeling place also made us watch a video). We were then guided to the Palace where we got little paper booties to wear.
The palace is really nice and the floors were sparkly. I actually enjoyed the tour!
This is a place to visit when one is also in the vicinity of the Hawaiian church and the old missionary village, i suppose. The tour guide said that this is the only official Royal Palace in the 50 states of our (dis)united states. Beautiful dark wood and interior evokes it's Victoria age. I believe we wore some paper booties to protect the floor and the tour guide wore a prapa moomoo---aloha sistah..
Kamehameha and Princess Lilikulani, are major names one finds in Hawaii in respect to the elders... but it is a sad history in the annals of Hawaiikai.
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