Hearst Castle

We enjoyed a seaside campsite in north Morro Bay before a few days' downtime to have some RV repairs - unfortunately, to correct a bungled repair from December when we were in Wilmington, NC.  We finally managed to get to the Hearst Castle in San Simeon.  He originally called the architect and said he wanted to put a little house on some property that his family used to camp on in San Simeon.  Well, thirty years later and many millions of dollars, he died without seeing his dream completed, but he did build a home that far surpassed his original ideas.  He worked with the same female architect for many years, and as his vision changed from a small something on the hill to a magnificent estate, he saw it as a museum for the public at some future time and the estate was donated to California after his death.  The working cattle ranch surrounding the castle is still owned by the Hearst family corporation.

The estate is at the top of a tall hill overlooking the ocean surrounded by miles and miles of grazing lands.  Much of the interior decoration came from churches throughout Europe - tapestries, ceilings, fireplaces, choir seats, artwork.  The front of the estate looks like a church, including 9' tall crosses on the belltowers, even though Hearst was not especially religious.  Some photos....

The front door

Kitchen had rotisseries, ovens, and multiple stoves capable of easily serving gourmet meals for 100+

Ultra modern kitchen - this stainless worktop was heated from below and used as a warming station before serving

The "assembly" room - where guests congregated for cocktails at the end of a day of adventure around the estate.

Gorgeous 15th and 16th century tapestries

One of many fireplaces

Choir seats as side chairs throughout the downstairs rooms from European churches.

The dining room

One of the many ornate ceilings - this was one with Moorish Spanish theme

A 2500 square foot guest cottage on the grounds

The outdoor pool, heated, of course

The indoor pool

The indoor pool had natural light streaming down from ceiling window blocks embedded in the tennis courts above

Tile work was extraordinary - gold leaf tile at the 7' bottom of the pool

Views of the ocean in the distance from the patios surrounding the castle

Views of the mountains looking north from the Castle.  The faint peak behind the hills was the Hearst land boundary - 35 miles away.

Hearst had a major zoo on the grounds with most animals given to zoos in San Diego and San Francisco.  A herd of zebras still roam the grazing lands.

Zebras share the grazing lands with the Hearst cattle.