or: Dubrovnik for GoT Fans AND Those Who’ve Never Watched It

Question – What do you get when you cross two people who are avid Game of Thrones (GoT) fans and three people who have never watched an episode, all in Dubrovnik at the same time?

You get something very rare and not often spoken about. You could still be getting over the shock of there being that many people that haven’t watched GoT in the same place at the same time. You may even be wondering how they can all be friends? Or even, what do they possibly talk about?

Answer – You get an unusual walking tour to combine the history of Dubrovnik (and Croatia to a lesser extent) with a walk around buildings and scenery which were further enhanced with computer generated imagery (CGI) to create various backdrops for GoT.

Yesterday was our first full day in Dubrovnik and previous experience has found the best way to avoid / lessen jet lag is through a walking tour early on in our adventures. We’re a group of five so booked a private tour as it means we can go at our own pace and add things on if needed e.g. a stop to buy flip flops / thongs / jandals since one bag was delayed in its journey to this part of the world.

After being collected from our hotel, we were taken to the very top of Dubrovnik, where the cable car  starts. Driving up this single-laned road, we find this was somewhat a border for the war of 1992-1995. The land is dry and arid. It hasn’t rained here for three months yet it appears that even when it does rain, the water is likely to be quickly absorbed, almost sucked into the soil, before leaving the top looking dry again.

We had an unsurpassed view of the Old City of Dubrovnik, an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. It was severely damaged in a large earthquake in 1679 and again during the more recent war. There is evidence of both remaining in the town itself. The easiest way to determine what has been repaired in the Old Town is by the colour of the roof tiles. The originals were moulded over the thigh and over time, became a creamy yellow colour. The new are still individually made yet they are still orange.

The city has a long and rich history, it was founded in the seventh century it has had a lot going on over the centuries! People became very skilled at diplomacy as a result of being “owned” by various powers over the years including the Ottomans and Venice and having to negotiate with others to avoid war. The influence of the Italians on the Old City architecture is evident.

Red Keep with pier

From our history lesson at the top, we drove through to various GoT sites since apparently this is King’s Landing in the show. I have no idea what that means but it has something to do with one of the cities.  From gardens to the Red Keep to little piers and beaches, before going into the Old City, we were shown the reality as well as a photo of the scene from the show. Our guide explained how they created it, the cost and what any of her friends may have done as extras in it as well as what happened in that episode.

Seems like a lot of people die.

There’s also a lot of fabulous costumes.

Many unhappily married people.

Quite a bit of trickery.

The cords were edited out

This Walk of Shame doesn’t sound like much fun and as a piece of trivia, the woman who did the nude part of this scene (she was a body double as the other woman was pregnant at the time) was a pornography actor and paid USD2,000 for her part. Where all the people are yelling out to her, they were meant to be yelling insults but if you know the Croatian politicians, you may hear them yelling their names instead. Most of that crowd is also CGI. If this means anything to you, you can call yourself a fan.

I know enough now for a pub quiz but I can’t remember any of their names.

They have definitely done a great job with the CGI based on the photos I saw yet it seems a shame to change any of what is already there as it is stunning. There is such a contrast between the rocky cliffs to the smoothness of the city walls and the colours of both to that of the sea that adding anything seems to be unnecessary.

Given that Robin Hood, Star Wars Episode VIII and the new James Bond are also being filmed here, I guess they do have to do something different with the scenery.

Expect to see 007 running along the city walls at some point in the future…

* Thanks to The Killers for the title to this post. They have a new album out later this month.