Hearst Castle, Carmel by the Sea and San Juan Bautista

One Saturday, we put the kids in the nursery and drove down to Hearst Castle and took the tour. Bob drove. My parents and I took pictures. Even though I know that he was there (he's in some of the photos), he doesn't remember it. My conclusion is - if you take pictures you remember where you went better than if you don't take pictures

We passed this lighthouse on an island off the coast. This is one of the most spectacular lighthouse sites in the country, located high atop a giant volcanic rock off CA 1 about 4 miles northwest of Big Sur

Shore and lighthouse

Lighthouse

The lighthouse was built in 1889. It is an active lighthouse - the light is 273 ft above the ocean and it emits a white flash every 15 seconds. The building is a 48 ft square cylindrical sandstone tower attached to a 1-story sandstone fog signal building; The building is unpainted stone; the lantern and gallery are painted black, and the lantern roof is red. Central Coast Lighthouse Keepers manages restoration of the light station and provides guided tours of the site and buildings. International Chimney Corp. restored the lantern room during the winter of 2000-01; The barn and workshop buildings have also been restored, and a replica of the 1907 wood water tower conceals a cellphone relay station. In April 2004 the lighthouse was transferred to California State Parks under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. The 125th anniversary of the lighthouse was celebrated in August 2014. .

Zoomed photo of the lighthouse

The lighthouse is accessible by a hike of 1/2 mile and 360 vertical feet of climbing (several long flights of stairs). Site, light station, and tower generally closed but open to guided tours on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays all year and also on Thursdays in July and August. Owner: California State Parks. Site manager: Point Sur State Historic Park

On the way to San Simeon

There were 17 people on the tour. Except for my mom and me, most of the people on the tour were men.

Towers

Hearst Castle

Della Robbia room - carved twin beds

North wall - bedroom of Doges's Suite - used by prominent guests

Gothic study where business was conducted

This was the room where "we smoked" - 17 people all men except us and none of us smoked

Gentleman's portrait by Paris Bordone (1510-1570) sitting room - 2 Urbino ware vases * the man on horseback -16th cent italian

Kitchen

The Neptune pool was the outdoor pool. It was one of two pools at San Simeon. All of the Hearst Castle tours are highlighted by stops at each of the two swimming pools. In addition to being beautiful, there are expansive views of the surrounding countryside from here.

Neptune pool

Statistics about the pool - it is 104 feet long, 58 feet wide and 95 feet wide at widest. It is 3.5 feet deep at the west (shallow) end, 10 feet at the deepest and holds 345,000 gallons of water. It has an oil burning heating system. The light-veined Vermont marble was used to decorate the pools and colonnades, and there are four 17-century Italian bas-reliefs on the sides of the colonnades.

Group reflecteed in the indoor pool

One of the two pools we visited on our tour was the indoor pool. This was a marvelous place to get reflection pictures. The tour guide said that the water was naturally cooler than the water in the outdoor pool as sun did not get to it. The Hearst Castle website says

Roman pool

The Roman Pool is decorated from ceiling to floor with 1" square mosaic tiles. These glass tiles, called smalti, are either colored (mainly blue or orange) or are clear with fused gold inside.

Tile

The intense colors and shimmering gold of the tiles combine to create a breathtaking effect. The designs created by the tiles were developed by muralist Camille Solon. The inspiration for some of these designs came from the 5th Century Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

Greek statue

There are also statues that appear to be of Roman gods and godesses. Marble was only used in the statues, not on the walls, and there are no religious murals as there would have been in the original Roman baths.. The Hearst Castle website says:
The pool appears to be styled after an ancient Roman bath such as the Baths of Caracalla in Rome c. 211-17 CE. .. The statues are rough copies of ancient Greek and Roman statues. One such copy represents the "Apoxyomenos." Statuary was used on a considerable scale in the Baths of Caracalla.... carved starting in 1930 by Carlo Freter working in Pietrasanta, Italy. They are rough copies of ancient Greek and Roman statues.

We visited the Carmel mission

Carmel Mission

courtyard

Carmel mission

Mission bell

Cemetery next to the mission

Old Gabriel - Aged 151 years

My dad and kids by the fountain

We visited San Juan Bautista with the antique car club - getting to the old town by the old San Juan Grade road

A_stop_on_the_San_Juan_Grade

Antique car visit

We visited the Ferry Morse seed company greenhouses.

Greenhouse

Ferry-Morse grew flowers for seeds. You could see the fields of flowers on the approach to town. But Ferry Morse has sold the San Juan Bautista branch . Today it is a company called Ag-Biotech

San Juan Bautista was once the largest town in central California and the hub of travel between northern and central California.

The park site includes several structures built in the 1800s. These include the Plaza Hotel and stable, blacksmith shop, granary, jail and several houses. Exhibits show California life of the Mission, Mexican and early American periods. We visited the mission and associated buildings with my mom and dad when they visited us. Much of San Juan Bautista is a state park. But the mission is only associated with the State Park- not a part of it.

Mission

Under mission bell at San Juan Bautista

Mission_San_Juan_Bautista

Mission from balcony

This is the 15th in order founding of the 21 California missions. Mission San Juan Bautista was founded 24 June 1797 by Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuén and was dedicated in 1812. The Mission is named for Saint John the Baptist. The Indian name was Popelout, or Popeloutchom.

Mission interior

It is known for being the largest of the mission churches, with three aisles instead of the single aisle in other mission churches. The monastery wing consists of 36 rooms. Three of the nine bells in the chapel area remain. It has been in continuous use since July 1, 1812.

This mission has never been abandoned. It is not the parish church of San Juan Bautista