Here is a view over some of the gardens and trees to the bell tower.

In a pre-winery tour on our trip to the Salinas Valley wineries in March of 2002, Lois joined Bron and I for a tour of San Simeon, the castle and home of William Hearst, the publisher tycoon. This was a great idea and we had a splendid tour. You need to arrange reservations well in advance to get in to this showpiece, but we all felt it was well worth the effort. It is professional, moves quickly, and the castle and artwork are magnificient.

The outdoor pool with its roman-esque setting. You can see that the castle is set on a hillside. It was cloudy on our tour date, as can be seen here, but the vista is downhill to the California coas over magnificient pasturlands to the beach.

Hearst collected everything from all around the world. Photography within the buildings was not allowed, but in the grounds he had brought in antique tiles from around the world to be included as decorations. These are a couple of Persian tiles in the pool area.

A closer persepctive of another of the many lovely gardens.