It was a cool foggy day in San Simeon but it could not dampen our trip to the Hearst Castle. What an extraordinary work. There are so many thing that make it a story worth telling. The castle was srarted in the 1920,s and not completed until 1947. The fact that a Castle of this magnitude was built here is one story but the architect and civil engineer that built it was a woman by the name of Julia Morgan. This was a time in US history when women did not have the right to vote and yet this diminutive woman was the first engineer to graduate from California State University at Berkley. She was also the first woman to be selected and graduate from a prestigious University in France in Architecture. She set the standard for earthquake proofing a building and the proof is still standing in San Simeon.

This type of Castle and all the antiques will never be built again as the artisans that did the wood, stone and marble are all gone and so is there knowledge. Hearst brought whole buildings and all there artifacts here from Europe. There is now an antiquities act in place so this can never happen again. The Castle as well as the story is magnificent and well worth the time to see. The statues around the property are all made from marble and most of the antiqities are from the 14 or 15 centuries. Enjoy