Travel Photography Photos tagged as hearst_castle
The three Hearst Castle guest houses were initially supposed to be 7, howerver, just like with the entire castle, they never got finished. Each of the guest houses is named after its views i.e. sun, mountain, sea.
Neptune pool is one of the most famous sights at the Hearst Castle with its white columns, marble statues and bright blue tiles.
Hearst Castle is surrounded by flowering gardens, trees, swimming pool and three guest houses, set high on top of the San Simeon hill.
The building to the right is one of the guest houses, Casa del Mar.
This is the statue of the three graces. About 10% of W.R. Hearst's art collection is located at the Castle, 22k peices.
Side view of the main house, Casa Grande.
This is 10 feet deep all the way across (except in the alcove). The balcony could be used for diving.
You buy tickets at a separate Visitor's Center, 5 miles down the hill from the castle. A bus transports tour groups to the top.
Photography is allowed inside, but only without flash, so this is pretty dark. W.R. Hearst and his wife lived here until the main house was completed.
W. R. Hearst owned three of these, among the earliest electric refrigerators.
This is a view from the bus as we drove up for our tour. The hilltop is almost solid rock. Hearst had 70k mature trees planted by blasting holes in the rock for their roots.
These are the oldest art pieces in Hearst's collection at San Simeon, about 3,400 years old. The statue on the right is on loan to the State Capitol, where Maria Shriver (Gov's Wife) has it on display.
W. R. Hearst wanted folks to look at him as a plain minor's or rancher's son (?), so always had ketchup and mustard as well as paper napkins at the dining room table. Or, maybe he just liked Ketchup & Mustard?
There are about 20, 1500's Belgium tapestries on display throughout the castle.
Again, no flash inside so this is difficult to see. It is the Living Room in the main guest house. Gold leaf decorates many areas and red velvet wall covering.
W. R. Hearst and his wife lived here while the main house was being built. The guest house has 5,875 sq ft and lots of gold leaf.
The front of the main house is covered with 3" of Utah Limestone. They back of the house wasn't quite completed (a work in progress throughout WRH's life)
The front entryway has a very old Roman tile floor, so most tours enter through the back.
This is the only kitchen. None of the guest houses had kitchens or dining rooms as WRH wanted the guests to interact, so everyone had to eat in the main DR. All appliances are kept in working order.
The peak season was a couple of months ago, but there were still plenty of elephant seals on the beach. This is about 3 miles north of San Simeon.
This is a small, fairly isolated beach just across from the campground where we stayed. There is a very steep path & stairs down to the beach. Someone had enjoyed using some of the many rocks here.