To visit Tovrea Castle you need luck, a lot of luck. Entrance is only on a lottery basis and a lot of people are applying for the 20 per day tickets. And not all days either, only Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And not all seasons as summer is too hot. So we are really surprised this year to win tickets in the lottery for today’s visit, quite surprising but nice. We are in the parking lot about 10 minutes before the start of the tour and we are the last people there, everyone is really scared of losing their place in the tour. From the visitor center an electric minibus takes us up towards the castle with the guide and a tape explaining its history.
From the visitor center we follow a side road in the extensive property that finally reaches the road from the main gate, which is not used anymore at least for tours. We catch our first glimpses also of the castle, really looking forward to get closer to it.
Next the bus drives around a tombstone pyramid, this seems to have been quite popular around the mid century given the more well known Governor Hunt Tomb in nearby Papago Park. From here we get an even closer view of the Tovrea Castle, just a little bit more left.
And then we are at the top of the hill and at the base of the castle. Of course it is not a real castle, it is an imitation of one supposed to open up as a hotel right at the beginning of the Great Depression. That didn’t work out so well obviously and Alessio Carraro, the original builder, sold it afterwards to be used as a private residence to the neighboring Tovrea’s a cattle ranching family.
We spend some time taking photos of the castle in front and I even have the honor of ringing the alarm bell, it was used quite extensively during the time the Tovreas were living here to alert others around the area for different reasons.
In fact from the Castle location you can see the nearby steak restaurant, opened by one of the Tovrea sons and recognized as one of the premier dinner destinations in the valley. We however are looking forward to enter the building, we are getting booties for that and then we can start exploring the rooms on the first floor.
While the guide is explaining the history we are allowed to explore the first room we entered, it has some beautiful details which were done by artisans that came to complete another building in the city. They were allowed to stay here and as a quid pro quo they also worked on the decorations in the castle/hotel.
There are two floors about the first floor that were supposed to be guest rooms however unfortunately we are not allowed to visit it. It is a bit of a bummer but not a lot we can do about it, it would have been interesting to see how the rooms were supposed to have looked especially given that they didn’t have private bathrooms.
We then continue exploring the first floor which has two more main rooms, the front entrance and the kitchen.
You could also go to the basement from here but supposedly it is too dangerous (?!) so we will have to go outside and around to another entrance. Another interesting point of attraction is the bullet hole in the ceiling in the kitchen, supposedly while Della Tovrea was living alone in the castle there was a breakin and she tried shooting the intruders through the ceiling. That didn’t work out and she was captured and a lot of valuables were stolen.
We take off our booties and exit outside with a nice overview of the gardens. We can see the pools and the peacock cages, supposedly Della Tovrea really liked peacocks and had more than 100 of them on the property.
In the basement is another small exhibit showing the building of the castle and some other artifacts and knick-knacks. The highlight however is the ceiling, it is really otherworldly built out of plaster and creating a cavern like feeling.
We also watch a short video of the restoration of the castle and then are pointed to look more carefully at the ceiling, in a few select spots there are eggs hidden in the weird shapes of the ceiling.
There is also a safe here, maybe this is the place that most valuables were hidden during the robbery before the owner was captured. It is also funny that you could visit it more readily then, when it was owned by the Tovreas than know when it is officially a City of Phoenix property.
And then it is time to return, using the scenic route. While we came in on a more direct route now on the return trip we will go round the castle and through the outbuildings and then return.
The views of the castle from this side are actually better given that the sun is now behind us. It is quite magnificent, too bad that it didn’t work out as a hotel.
Many of the buildings on the estate are ruined, including the dove cote and the caretakers house. We wonder if they would open it up to the public if the additional income would not be quite useful to make the additional repairs. We ask actually at the visitor center and they say that it is too dangerous because they saw a coyote on the grounds. Really?!? We see a coyote almost every trip in Arizona, it seems to us the real reason is something else that they don’t want to speak about.
After the one hour and a half outing it is almost noon so we decide to eat something in Scottsdale to celebrate our luck. We park right in the front of the chosen restaurant and notice a church nearby that we never really noticed till now. It is even open so in we go and it is worthwhile to do so if in the area.
It is not a large church but it looks quite historical and it even has a small collection of eclesiastic artifacts, quite interesting.
And then it is time to enter the restaurant which is serving brunch during the weekend, which is great as otherwise it would be quite expensive.
We order two breakfast items and both are quite good especially the skirt steak. But the piece de resistance is the bread pudding, it is quite good and of course filling, this will be all we eat all day. And afterwards it is time to return home after a more cultural day than usual, which also implies less hiking in this case.
