Hearst Castle

We’d a long day of driving today as the Pacific Costal Highway is blocked and we’d to take a roundabout route to get to Santa Barbara. We drove down the 101 past endless fields of fruit and veg in temps touching the 90s. It’s striking how vital irrigated  water is to the economy of California as it doesn’t appear much falls from the skies. 
We took a detour to visit the Hearst Castle on top of a hill at  San Simeon. It took him 28 yrs to build with his long suffering female architect. He sounds a bit like a cross between Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch.  We’d an excellent guided tour of some of his house where he used to host gatherings of Hollywood stars. It’s set in a magnificent location with good views of the coast. The interior is an odd mix of antiques from different periods. We liked his swimming pools the best - there’s a lovely Roman style indoor pool and a large outdoor pool in the extra.