Trip Report - September - Day 12 - Cambria and Hearst Castle

DAY 12 – Saturday 27th September

Up at 7.30am and had coffee and cake in the motel reception lounge which was just enough for our breakfast. Asked if our noisy neighbours were staying another night – they were – so we asked to move rooms. Staff were very helpful with this, simply told us which rooms were free that night, and said that if we packed our cases they would move them to our new room. Such a difference from the UK where in this situation there would have been lots of sighing and grumbling to make it clear to us just how awkward it was and how much we were putting them out!

Off to Hearst Castle. Hadn’t pre-booked, but when I asked at the motel, they said that as there were just two of us, if we got there early we’d be fitted in with no problem. It was very misty and gloomy in Cambria all the way up to Hearst Castle – the famous “marine layer”. Impeccable timing, arriving at 9am just as the first bus of the day was going up to the castle. The bus climbed up the hillside and soon broke through above the cloud blanket to give us an early view of the castle perched on the hilltop.

We%26#39;d booked the Experience introductory tour. On arrival we were met by two guides dressed in natty uniforms, who were the US version of Women’s Institute or National Trust workers. Guessed they were volunteers, and proud to be there. They escorted us throughout, to tell us about the place and also of course to make sure we didn’t go to forbidden bits. One guide did all the talking and she was quite entertaining, working to a script of “imagine Mr.Hearst has invited you for the weekend”, and adding lots of interesting touches about how Hearst got interested in architecture and what typical weekends were like.

Started the tour with the justly famous Neptune pool, which has a high “wow” factor, particularly with the backdrop view over the coast, which was still impressive even with marine layer hiding the coastline. Our guide pointed out the subtle mixtures of roman ruins and 1930’s concrete used for the surrounds. Next we went through beautiful formal gardens into Casa del Sol with its hideous medieval-style rooms where the unfortunate guests were billeted.

Moved onto the main house with huge banqueting hall. I was particularly entertained by the juxtaposition of tapestries and billiard table in the games room. In the huge private cinema saw clips of home movies from the 30’s which was a nice touch. Finished off at the Roman pool which was really stylish. Back down at the visitor centre we watched the included film about building Hearst Castle.

Very impressive and really glad we took the trip, even though there are lots of odd mixtures of style. Pity in a way that Hearst didn’t just hand over his money and give his architect carte blanche to design the place, but then of course it wouldn’t have been as eccentric. Our trip had taken all morning to complete, but well worth it.

Drove a couple of miles north to the Elephant Seal view point. Most of them were basking in big heaps, but there were also a few being active in the water, and a few sparring with each other in the surf. This was pretty impressive as we haven’t seen anything like it in Europe, but there is a limit to the entertainment they provide – in our case this was about 20 minutes.

Drove to San Simeon beach opposite the turn-off to the castle. This was a really nice bay with a long jetty from which we could see several brown pelicans diving spectacularly for fish. The marine layer was still clinging to the coastline in this bay which was very atmospheric. After an hour or so it cleared, but stayed in place just a few hundred yards further south, looking like a scene from the horror film “The Fog”. Beach was great and very quiet once you got 30 yards away from the car park. Janette basked on the beach, while I explored the water’s edge and found starfish and anemones at the end of the bay. This was a beautiful setting and we stayed there relaxing almost all afternoon. Got chatting to a group with kayaks who offered us some of their beach picnic food, which was fun.

The marine layer stayed in place all day and when we returned to Cambria we drove straight into the gloom. Went to the coast by Cambria, but couldn’t see more than 50 yards so returned to Cambria village, where most of the shops were now shut. Explored near our motel, then back to Sow’s Ear for another great meal. For starters, Manhattan Chowder was disappointing, but salad with honey %26amp; lime dressing was very good. Had Aberdeen Angus pot roast, chicken with dumplings, followed by sumptuous cheesecake and bread %26amp; butter pudding, washed down with house wine. Very full indeed!

On our way back stopped off briefly at a bar with live band playing good rock/Eagles type music. Quite a few people here had cowboy hats on, which didn’t seem to fit with Cambria at all.

We’d spent 2 nights in Cambria but really felt that we hardly knew it at all. Could have happily spent another couple of nights here. Still, another great day, and Big Sur and Carmel to look forward to.

Trip Report - September - Day 12 - Cambria and Hearst Castle

Sounds like a wonderful time, Cambria is such a beautiful area to spend time in. You will love Carmel and Big Sur, we are headed over that way very soon! :)

Trip Report - September - Day 12 - Cambria and Hearst Castle

Great report. You%26#39;re right that Hearst Castle is such a weird pastiche of styles: what happens with an abundance of money but lack of taste. I understand that Hearst tortured his architect, Julia Morgan, with endless change requests. The Neptune Pool was rebuilt at least twice, as I recall.

Glad you liked our little town. As for the cowboys; Cambria actually has a lot of working farm land. Property owners get tax breaks if they farm the land instead of develope it, so many just raise cattle. I have more than once stopped my car to let horseback riders cross the street. My neighbor once found a cow in her garage eating cat food

There%26#39;s currently an exhibit somewhere in Los Angeles (maybe the Getty?) of works from Hearst%26#39;s collections. The review I read suggested that it wasn%26#39;t that he didn%26#39;t have good taste, but rather than he couldn%26#39;t resist buying--and displaying--everything he saw or heard of! Of course it might just be that if you buy everything, you%26#39;re bound to get some gems--but he gets so much bad press, I%26#39;ll give him the benefit of the doubt!

As far as his taste goes, it does seem a bit like one of those weird buffet meals where you pick things which look good on their own, but when you get back to your table, you have a very strange looking meal.

The billliard room with tapestries is just weird in anyone%26#39;s book surely!