Tuesday 20 August 2013

Kings Landing A.K.A Dubrovnik



When searching for accommodation we found that Dubrovnik was 93% fully booked! This is the  highest % we have ever seen but after lots of searching we were lucky enough to find a place through Air bnb. (See the "Firenze" post re Air bnb). Our host - Frano, Spoke perfect English when we communicated via email. Upon our arrival it was clear he spoke zero English but perfect French. Frano seemed a little puzzled to learn that we were English & not French. Cat asked me why he assumed we were French? I said its probably because of your name.  "But my name is Greek"!? oh so its probably not that then. Language barrier aside, Frano was great. He gave us some freezing cold coke & chocolate biscuits on arrival & the day we left he gave us a lift at 7:30 in the morning to the bus station free of charge. 



The city walls of Dubrovnik are used as the filming location for Kings Landing (from season 2 onwards) the capital of Westeros from Game Of Thrones. As we are both big fans of the show we did a little research & found some of the shooting locations. The following will make less sense to you as Frano did to us if you do not watch the show.


This is where they shot the riot that Joffrey started & where he received a face full of crap :) This was the first thing we saw as we entered the city walls.





House of the Undying looks very different in real life without the cgi but watching the scene it is clear it was the right place. Check out the link


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwWyZ1CYqtI



After walking all the way around the house of the undying I did not disappear. FFS.




This is where they drowned King Roberts bastards.

The pier where Shae & Sansa shoot the shit. See below.





Back to reality for a bit. The construction of the walls dates back to the 7th century & were originally constructed of wood. The Walls that we can see today were constructed during the 12th-17th centuries. They are considered as one of the greatest defensive systems of the middle ages & were never breached by a hostile army during that time. The old walls of Dubrovnik are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The entrance fee for the walls included entrance to the Fort of St Lawrence. They shoot lots of scenes in the fort as it has great views of the sea & walls.


The view of the Fort from the walls


View of Kings landing from the Fort of St Lawrence

This is where the Hound brought Sansa after rescuing her from the mob.

"I didnt do it for you"
The girl on the left was a fan too. She was whistling the shows theme tune :)  
Where Joffrey's name day tournament was held.





We correctly decided to ditch lunch in favour of beers in a bath. 




That evening we went back to the Fort of St Lawrence where we had found a great spot with a bench overlooking the sea. There we claimed the bench as our own & watched the sun go down. 




This was a hell of a lot scarier in real life than the photo gives it credit for. Catherine found my nervousness very amusing.



Dubrovnik is amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if the % of fully booked accommodation climbs even higher.

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