Big Sur

Just South of Big Sur, I stopped at a youth hostel in tiny Cambria for one night. In the evening I had a nice walk along the beach, feeling a bit sad that my trip would soon come to an end.

Early the next morning I made a visit to Hearst Castle, the amazing palatial home of newspaper tycoon William Hearst. Hearst was a real Great Gatsby figure, regularly hosting parties to the glitterati of the time. Some of his A-list guests included Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers and Winston Churchill. In the hills around the castle, zebras, antilopes, tigers and over 70 other exotic species once roamed, altogether forming the largest privately owned zoo in the world. Most of these animals are now gone but you can still see flocks of zebras in the hills. The castle features two swimming pools, its own movie theatre and is filled to the brim with art and antiques.

This is the outdoor swimming pool, the Neptune pool.

This is the main entrance to the castle.

This is the indoor swimming pool, modelled after Roman baths.

written by  niklasbergstrand on January 20, 2009 from Cambria, United States
from the travel blog: Niklas in America
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