The first link show the magnificent Assembly room where people would meet before dinner. The second show the incredible dining room with its gothic ceiling and silk flags. And the last link shows the opulence of the indoor swimming pool.
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Monterey to Santa Barbara
Reluctantly we had to leave beautiful Monterey and the palatial Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa. We are now heading to Santa Barbara via Hearst Castle. William Randolph Hearst and his family spent endless time living on their massive property on the San Simeon coast. He became sick of camping there and drawing inspiration from his childhood visit to Europe engaged an architect to build a residence that reminded him of the grandeur of the many castles and churches he had seen as a child. The castle is enormous and has many Gothic and Renaissance artworks scattered throughout. It took about 20 years to complete and was the visiting place of all people of importance. Movie stars, presidents, prime ministers business men of influence were all invited to stay over the years. Many flew into the property via the airstrip while others travelled to the isolated area and arrived at the hilltop to witness the most magnificent view. On his land surrounding the castle he had herds of wild and exotic animals and we saw a herd of zebra running amongst the cattle today. He also had the most exotic animals in a personal zoo, but in the 1930s when the economy was bad he donated many of the exotic stock to a number of zoos.
We then continued onto Santa Barbara where we will spend the night before driving onto Santa Monica for a two night stay.
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