article_snippet.sent: The brilliant audio guide that leads you around the prison is narrated only by men who were once guards or prisoners on the rock, making for an eerie and compelling tour.
article_snippet.sent: At the end of Big Sur you can encounter yet another type of wildness altogether in the form of the legendary Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo.
article_snippet.sent: Every bedroom is themed here - from Rock Bottom (it's a cave) to Old Mexico and the comparatively muted silver walls and flock wallpaper of our own Crystal Room.
article_snippet.sent: To call the the legendary Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispokitsch' is to do it a huge disservice, because it takes everything to a whole new level of eye-popping taste.
article_snippet.sent: Take the Gold Rush Steakhouse, which puts the shocking into pink.
article_snippet.sent: The whole place is furnished and upholstered in this garish shade, softened only by the presence of enormous gold chandeliers.
article_snippet.sent: You have to see The whole place to believe The whole place, but the food and service were fantastic.
article_snippet.sent: An enormous neo-Classical marble swimming pool dominates Hearst's magnificent mansion .
article_snippet.sent: You can take a tour of the castle and its grounds.
article_snippet.sent: After a 15-minute coach drive up the snaking road to the top of the hill, you discover a spectacular mansion furnished with antiques and tapestries from all over Europe, and boasting Roman baths, an enormous neo-Classical marble swimming pool and Roman own private cinema.
article_snippet.sent: In the 1930s, Hearst Castle was party central for Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Greta Garbo et al.