Today was a wow day for me! the two places I particularly wanted to go to were the Getty centre and Hearst Castle. Not sure if many have  heard of either?

So leaving Morro Bay in the morning and only 26 miles and there it was, Hearst castle.

 

look closely and you will see it up on the hill.

 

 

Hearst Castle’s history begins in 1865, when George Hearst purchased 40,000 acres of ranchland. In 1919, William Randolph Hearst inherited what had grown to more than 250,000 acres, and was dreaming of ways to transform it into a retreat he called La Cuesta Encantada—Spanish for “Enchanted Hill.” By 1947, Hearst and architect Julia Morgan had created Hearst Castle: 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways—all built to house Hearst’s specifications and to showcase his legendary art collection.

 

 

so we parked at the visitors centre ( you have to prebook to get in on a tour) and then up on the bus we went and well wow! it is as stunning and huge as you imagine. we had a great tour guide which helped too.

I have put some of the favourite photos but the castles webpage has plenty too.

 

Then off up the coast to Big Sur and on to Monterey beach for the night.  This is a stunning bit of coast and quite a drive!  Rus was complaining that it was two lanes of traffic and a windy bumpy road. I think he is getting too used to the freeways!  he also had trouble when we hit road works and had to drive on the other side of the road........

 

the cocktail room ...

one of three houses Hearst built while he built the big house

Neptunes pool

the view and the road up to the castle by bus

it was hot very hot

the roman pool which was only half finished

and the road

just cut out of the cliff and 87 miles long ...

looking south to LA