HEARST CASTLE & PCH (Day 7 - part 2)
In San Simeon, we turned off towards the hills to visit Hearst Castle.
Entering the main gate up to the visitor center
We didn't have enough time to enjoy all that the visitor centered offered since our tour was leaving almost immediately. We hopped on the shuttle which drove up us a 5-mile long, winding road to the castle.
Getting closer ... Looking back down
In 1865, George Hearst purchased 48,000 acres of ranchland around San Simeon. In 1919, his son, William Randolph Hearst, inherited this and over time purchased more... eventually encompassing about 250,000 acres.
Having travelled around Europe when he was younger, William always dreamed of building a dwelling similar to those he'd seen back then. So together with architect Julia Morgan, he spent 28 years creating La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for Enchanted Hill). In 1947, William left the castle due to health issues (he died in 1951). The estate was still unfinished, even though it already had 165 rooms and 123 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways.
In 1958, the Hearst family gave the castle to the State of California but retained ownership of a majority of the land. The castle is both a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark (number 640).
An overview of the castle
A map of the castle. Click for a larger view
The shuttle let us off at the stairs below the north terrace where we were met by our guide, Christopher.
Heading up the Grand Staircase
"The Doves" is a marble sculpture created by French artist Gilbert Privat in the early 1920s and purchased by William Hearst in 1929.
We then walked along the west terrace to Casa del Sol (House of the Sun). It is the middle of three luxurious guest cottages.
In the front was a reproduction of the statue of David. The original was made in the 1440s by the Italian artist Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi (c. 1386 - 1466), better known as Donatello.
We retraced our steps back a bit to the Neptune Pool.
The Neptune Pool was built from 1924 to 1936. All told, there were three versions, each one being larger than the previous one. This final version measures 104 feet long by 58 feet wide (95 feet wide at the alcove). It ranges from 3.5 feet to 10 feet deep, and holds 345,000 gallons of water.
Apparently the pool had only just recently been refilled in August 2018. It had been leaking since 2014 and had been drained for renovations.
Sculptures of Neptune (Roman god of the sea) and two nereids (sea nymphs) .... Unfortunately Neptune was too tall for the spot so they simply cut off his feet!
In Greek mythology, the Nereids were the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. They helped sailors during fierce storms in the Aegean Sea.
Standing on the terrace overlooking the pool
We wrapped our way around the esplanade....
Casa del Monte, another of the cottages .... with the towers of Casa Grande behind it
Casa del Mar, the third and largest cottage
return • continue
