Bob & Cindy's 2015 Travel Web Site
Location Links
Hearst Castle and Big Sur
San Simeon is on the southern end of California Highway 1 .. in this area it's known as the Big Sur drive. It is worthy of all the publicity it gets because the views are incredible. The other attraction here is Hearst Castle, William Randolph Hearst's magnificent get away home high up on top of a mountain overlooking the Pacific. Pictures below do not do justice to either of these beautiful areas.
Construction of Hearst Castle started in the 1920's and was mostly completed by 1937 at a cost of $6 million and today it takes $9 million/year to keep it maintained.
The grand room, it's more than twice the size you see here. Sitting areas all around but the focus is on the magificent tapastrys that are all around the rooom. Hearst was an avid collector of all things European.
The dining room.
The living room looking the other direction. Also, there were alcoves off of the room with marble statues, etc.
Every room had these panels in the ceiling, each one individually carved with unique (and supposedly a story for each one). Amazing detail.
The pool room.
As impressive as the inside was, the landscaped grounds were even more impressive. It's worth the trip by itself.
Flowers everywhere amid the landscaped gardens.
The outdoor pool (which overlooks the Pacific) was being redone because of needing new tile. Note the Roman columns.
One of the "guest cottages".
Incredible views in every direction.
The indoor pool, the light comes in from glass tiles built into the tennis court which is located over the pool. You have to see it to believe it!
On another perfect weather day, we took off to drive the Big Sur Highway.
Any place we stop are views like this.
The whole road is an engineering marvel. Many bridges and many slide areas that occassionally close the highway.
Picture says it all!
One of the most beautiful coves I've seen. Note the waterfall coming down onto the beach.
Another cove.
Same cove from the picture on the left with two very happy people in the middle spoiling the view.
From here we are going up to the Santa Lucia Highlands area (Salinas Valley) to find some more wines.