Overlooking the Pacific Ocean from high atop a crest of the Santa Lucia Mountains near the seaside village of San Simeon, this expansive 127-acre estate and the opulent mansion crowning it embody the flamboyant image of William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951). Eclectically designed and lavishly embellished with the newspaper magnate's world-class collection of Mediterranean art and antiques, the castle attracts some 800,000 visitors annually. Boyhood camping vacations at San Simeon ranch, which his father had purchased in 1865, instilled in Hearst a lifelong love of this site. When Hearst inherited the San Simeon lands in 1919, he hired San Francisco architect Julia Morgan-the first woman ever to be accepted into the architecture program at France's famed École des Beaux-Arts-to design a "bungalow" on the site. Over the next 28 years, the project snowballed from a modest country residence to La Cuesta Encantada, "The Enchanted Hill," as Hearst named his palatial estate. The 65,000sq ft main house, one of the grandest private residences in the nation, contains 115 rooms, including 38 bedrooms, 41 bathrooms, two libraries, a billiard room, a beauty salon and a theater, all resplendent with works from Hearst's art holdings, among the most extensive private collections in the US. The estate also boasts two spectacular swimming pools: the outdoor Neptune Pool, with its graceful Classical design, and indoor Roman Pool lined with gold-inlaid Venetian glass tiles. Highlights of the castle's art collection include silver, furnishings, 16C tapestries, Florentine Renaissance terra-cotta sculpture and a superb group of ancient Greek vases that line the shelves of Hearst's 5,000-volume library. All tours depart from the visitor center, a modern facility housing excellent exhibits that depict the many facets of Hearst and his monument.