Amusing Bouches: Game of Thrones walking tour and boat trip to Lokrum, Dubrovnik, May 2014

I can remember being very jealous and wanting to go to Dubrovnik after seeing some of my mom and dad’s holiday snaps a few years ago. Finding out that it was being used as the set for King’s Landing in Game of thrones had made it a must see.

We arrived in Dubrovnik to a pretty amazing welcome at the amazing B&B we were staying in and had our appetite for Game of Thrones related adventures whetted with a few stories about what happens when they film in Dubrovnik. Then we headed out and wandered around the Old Town and along the city walls on our own. It was lovely to just soak up the views, enjoy this beautiful city at our own pace and have the chance to take some nice photos whilst the weather was at it's best.

Having become slightly obsessed with Game of Thrones we also booked a "Game of Thrones" walking tour for the next day to try and make sure we got as much out of the experience as possible. There was a nice sized group (about 10 in total) and it the presence of people who were clearly even more into Game of Thrones than me was reassuring.

We started off getting away from the busy streets of the Old Town and following our guide up a relatively steep path/steps to Fort Lovrijenac. This was the setting for quite a few scenes in season 2 including a fight involving the Hound that ends in a bloody mess during Joffrey's name day celebrations (on the balcony) and dissuasions between Cersei and Lord Baelish under the arches. It also offers great views of the Old Town and of Parc Gradac where the Purple Wedding was filmed in season 4.

Whispers in the corridors of power

Imagine Joffrey standing on the balcony overseeing proceedings

Parc Gradac, setting of the Purple Wedding

Fort Lovrijenac from Blackwater Bay

We headed down from Fort Lovrijenac and on our way back to the Old Town stopped in "Blackwater Bay". Blackwater Bay crops up as the main port for King's Landing, it's where the Lannisters wave off Myrcella when she is shipped off to Dorne. The pier is also somewhere Sansa is seen talking to Lord Baelish. The only boats on the sea whilst we were there were Kayaks (unfortunately it looked a bit too choppy for us to try some kayaking) but Blackwater Bay is also where the Battle of Blackwater took place in season 2.

Fort Lovrijenac and "Balckwater Bay"

"Blackwater Bay"

The rocks at "Blackwater Bay", used during the "slaughter of the innocents" season 2 episode 1

The pier

We were guided up the back of the bay to find ourselves at Pile Gate one of the entrance gates to the Old Town. The guide took us round a few of the backstreets in the Old Town mentioning a few interesting facts about Dubrovnik that weren't Game of Thrones related! She timed this to arrive at the Market Square at midday when the mass feeding of the city's pigeons takes place.

Just around the corner we were shown a glimpse of the Rector's Palace. You can see into the courtyard without actually paying to go in (although we did go in properly a few days later). In season 2 episode 6 this is where Daenerys visits the Spice King. On our way to the city walls the guide pointed out a street close to Ploce Gate down which Tyrion and Bronn walked and talked.

Finally we headed up onto the City Walls walking and taking some of the best photos of the Old Town until we reached Minceta Fort. From inside the fort you get a view of the Old Town that was used as a backdrop in the scene where they are looking for Gendry at the Blaksmiths. The outside of the fort was the exterior of the House of the Undying that Daenyrys mysteriously enters in Qarth.

King's Landing

View from the Blacksmiths

Minceta tower, aka House of the Undying

Finally the guide left us to walk the rest of the walls on our own. We certainly enjoyed the tour and it must have been good because I didn't notice that we'd spent 3 hours walking! There were lots of places that were pointed out that I’m sure we’d never have noticed if we were just walking round. It was also interesting to be shown pictures from the show and to be able to see where things had been added by CGI etc.

The only slight issue was that it was quite expensive, although the price did include entry to the city walls and Fort Lovrinjenac. Also, although there are certainly lots of walking tours around Dubrovnik, at the moment this seems to be pretty much that only Game of Thrones themed tour, so I guess a bit of competition might affect the price. Having said all of that I doubt the price will put off Game of Thrones fans and if you're not a Game of Thrones fan then start watching!

Lokrum

A few days later (when the seas were calm enough) we took a boat from the Old Town harbour to Lokrum which doubled as the city of Qarth in season 2. Lokrum is only about 600m from the Old Town-you can see it in quite a lot of photos of the old town. As long as the weather's ok the boats run every day on the hour. Sitting at the back on the right hand side of the boat probably gives you the best views as it sails away from the Old Town and after about 15 mins we had arrived to be immediately greeted by a peacock. Apart from numerous peacocks (brought over from the Canary Islands about 150 hers ago), the island has a few other things to see. We had some fun climbing over rocks on the north-west coast then headed inland and walking up the Path of Paradise that takes you to the fort. Here got some good views of the Old Town before walking back to the port.