When I was a little girl (around the age of five or six) my Mother took me to a magical castle on a hill. I don't remember much about the castle except that it had the most amazing pool I'd ever seen. I've always been completely captivated by water. Always. To this day I remember very vivid images of that pool. It was stunning. I thought we should have one like it in our backyard.
A few months ago I came across images of the pool and discovered its location: Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. A 3.5 hour drive South from where I live. So after a little planning, my friend from school days at SVC - Erin Vomocil and I jumped in my Jeep this weekend and headed south, laughing the whole way. I don't think I'd chatted with anyone so much in a very long time. Way fun.
What a fantastic weekend!
We stayed in a small town five miles South of San Simeon called Cambria at a small motel called The San Simeon Pines. It was cute, cozy, clean and right on the Coast. It was also straight out of the 50's! LOL. We felt like we'd hit a time-warp when we arrived in Cambria. No modern restaurants; all of the hotels were from a bygone era; the people... well, they were what is left of the 50's (in a cute way); and everywhere we went - crazy old elevator music!! The ambiance was quite complete.
After checking in and then driving into town to grab some lunch (seafood at a local place that was crazy-mixed up in it's decor. It was 49-er miner style meets fishing town with a bit of ski-chalet thrown in... lol) we headed back to our room to (duh duh duh!) take a nap. Yes, we're that old and pathetic. I woke up a while before Erin and headed across the street to the coast to check it out and snap some pictures:
Our 50's retro Hotel
Good to know.
We went on Tour #1 of Hearst Castle - the overall, general tour of the place. My only complaint about the tour was the actual group of people we ended up on the tour with. UGHHH. Nothing against Chinese people, but going on tours with groups of them is TORTURE. They're loud, rude, have completely unruly children and invade your personal space. They're impossible to ignore because they constantly interrupt the tour by going places they ought not and talk/behave so loudly that you can't hear the guide. Grrr. That aside, we had a fantastic guide and the place itself is more than enough to compensate for any inconveniences along the way. I just highly recommend NOT going on tours with large groups of Chinese tourists.
As for the tour itself: you meet at the visitor's center at the bottom of the hill and you can see the "Castle" sitting atop the hill in the distance
The Castle in the Distance. In Hearst's time, the place was called La Cuesta Encantata (The Enchanted Hill). It was only when the Hearst family gave the place to the State of California that it was re-branded as Hearst Castle in order to market it better as an attraction. Worked for me.
From the visitor's center you actually take a bus up the five-mile narrow, winding driveway from which you see the gorgeous, rolling hills, the old bear cages. (Hearst had at one time there in San Simeon the largest zoo in the world. To this day there are still three species of non-native animals left over from that zoo that roam the hillsides - one I can't remember, bighorn sheep, and... ZEBRAS!)
Once you're off the bus, tour 1 starts at the bottom of a staircase leading up to Casa del Sol - the House of the Sun. There were actually four residences on the property - the main house, Casa Grande, Casa del Sol, Casa del Monte and Casa del Mar (Sea). Each of the three guesthouses were named for their view.
Casa Del Sol - one of the three guesthouses
Here's the skinny on square footage, rooms, bathrooms, etc:
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Keep in mind, this place was started in the 1920's. The building project went on for 26 years. IN the 1920's and 30's most houses didn't have running water. Hearst castle had modern bathrooms for EVERY bedroom on the estate. Talk about lavish excess.
Photos will give you a better idea of the grandeur of the place than I ever could:
The pool I dreamt about as a kid.
Every surface, ceiling, floor and walkway was considered fair game to either house a piece of artwork or be a piece of artwork. Most of the art, hangings, facades and columns are genuine antiques from ancient Rome, Spain, England, Egypt. Many of the ceilings and floors are reproductions of the European originals. I dare you to find craftsman these days that can produce work like that.
The oldest artifact at the Castle. Egyptian, dating back 3500 years.
The facade of the main house, La Casa Grande, resembling a Spanish cathedral
Check out the detail work - it's EVERYWHERE!
The main lobby in the main house.
The ceiling of the dining hall.
Details...
Yes that is a See's candy box! They haven't changed AT ALL.
Newspaper from the time period.
Front door to the Main House and the mosaic tile entryway.
The Indoor Pool. This pool is underneath the tennis courts. It was the most expensive room in the complex, and also the biggest dissappointment for Hearst. It was rarely used - not because it wansn't beautiful or luxurious enough, but because people of that era simply DIDN'T SWIM. This pool is 10 feet deep across and was called by one guest "An elegant place to drown."
23.97 karat gold EVERYWHERE - floors, walls, ceilings of the indoor pool complex.
The facade of La Casa Grande.
I could go on about tour one for paragraphs and paragraphs, but I won't. You should go on it yourself. It was an experience not to be missed.
Later, as if the tour wasn't enough - after we grabbed dinner at a local pizza joint, we went to catch the sunset at the beach.
Buenas Noches, Luna!
More to come...
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