Hearst Castle, a short trip

Posted by afreelancewriter on October 6, 2022 in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Hearst Castle near San Simeon, California, was a go-to destination on my trip south after visiting my daughter and her husband in Concord, California. Looking back, I am reminded of the problems I had visiting the San Diego Zoo years ago. In both cases, there is more than can be seen in just one trip. Visit the website https://hearstcastle.org/tour-hearst-castle/daily-tours/ and you will see twelve listed there. Please note that there are no elevators and except for the one short ADA tour there are many steps to climb — for example, 367 for the upper floors tour.

All tours originate from the Visitor’s Center, a short distance up from Highway 1 — the Big Sur route./

Based on the descriptions provided by the ticket agent, I chose the Grand Rooms Tour. After buying a ticket you will board a bus

for the 6-mile ride from the Visitor’s Center near sea level to the castle perched on a hill 1,600 feet higher.

The ride passes through the original Hearst Ranch, which surrounds Hearst Castle and comprises about 80,000 acres. Google https://www.hearstranch.com/ for details.

As in all museum type venues, electronic flash is not permitted. The outside scenes have more than enough natural light. Inside, not so much; hardly any artificial light with small windows. Fine for the eyeballs. My camera for this venture was a Canon T6s set for the most part on automatic mode. Where and when I had the luxury of time, I switched to manual mode and pushed the ISO numbers. After the fact, I did some photo-shopping to improve the exposures and crop the composition where I thought it needed it.

I was WOW’d immediately after stepping off the bus and walking up the first few steps to a statuary and sculpture terrace.

The most impressive, and the oldest were this grouping of four dating back to 1550-1070 BCE. They depict the Goddess Sekhmet who had the body of a woman with the head of a lion. According to the Castle literature, Hearst located these pieces in separate locations of Egypt.

This was just a tiny example of the statues and sculptures at the castle. I would venture to say that you can’t stand anywhere within the castle grounds without seeing one. Google “Hearst Castle Statuary” to see more.

From that terrace we were led to Neptune’s Pool.

The deepest part of the 345,000 gallon pool is ten feet. According to the guide, a few years ago the pool sprung a leak and was draining five to six thousand gallons per day. It took almost three years to repair. Neptune’s statue guards the pool standing on an elaborate plinth some thirty feet tall with three fountains.

A closeup of Neptune

The statues and columns surrounding the pool are Egyptian artifacts Hearst imported.

Three times a year the State Parks System [the owner of Hearst Castle] conducts swim parties where the public can swim in Neptune’s pool. Limited reservations for the swim are priced at $750 per person.

Leaving the pool, we climbed up more steps headed for the grand entrance to the castle proper. Interestingly, officially named Casa Grande, Hearst only once referred to it as a castle, and then only in a passing remark. Beginning in 1919 as a small bungalow atop what he referred to as “La Cuesta Encantada” – Spanish for The Enchanted Hill, the estate grew to comprise four main buildings with 165 bedrooms. Most visitors spent their nights in one of the three lavish guest bungalows.

The description of this castle facade and the “Golden Gate” requires more than my word budget allows. If you want more details about the construction, including the bell towers, head for Google

The tour route into Casa Grande is a side entrance leading into the first of the grand rooms, the Assembly Room.

From here we were led into the refectory.

In case you tried to count, it seats twenty.

I was admonished by the tour guide for rubbing a finger on the felt. Legend says the was one of Hearst’s favorite rooms of the castle. I could imagine whiskey glasses perched on the rails and a cigar smoke haze.

The tour left the main building……..

……..passed by the tennis courts, and entered……

The Indoor Pool

The park literature describes the Roman Pool at Hearst Castle as “a tiled indoor pool decorated with eight statues of Roman gods, goddesses and heroes. The pool appears to be styled after an ancient Roman bath such as the Baths of Caracalla in Rome c. 211-17 CE. The mosaic tiled patterns were inspired by mosaics found in the 5th Century Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy. They are also representative of traditional marine monster themes that can be found in ancient Roman baths. The statues are rough copies of ancient Greek and Roman statues. One such copy represents the “Apoxyomenos.” Statuary was used on a considerable scale in the Baths of Caracalla.”

On the right-hand side, near the middle of my photo, you can see a diving platform above the ten-foot deep section. Unfortunately, the 2D perspective don’t give justice to the form. Here’s a frontal view.