A Game of Thrones Tour in Dubrovnik

We spent the weekend in beautiful Dubrovnik Old Town. In addition to being a UNESCO world heritage site and a total tourist magnet, Dubrovnik is also a proper city, complete with museums, art galleries, musical performances, and absolutely incredible food. All of this was a welcome contrast after our last couple of months of mostly rural travel.

Dubrovnik Old Town is a well-preserved medieval town with historical significance, particularly as a maritime trading center from ~ the 13th to 17th century. However, this part of Dubrovnik has also gained modern fame as the King’s Landing filming location for Game of Thrones.

James and I were big fans of the show up until Season 8 (we won’t talk about Season 8), so we decided to do a walking tour of the scene locations. This wound up being WAY more fun that we anticipated, mostly because our tour guide Jelena was both a local and a GoT nerd with lots of “behind the scenes” tidbits to share.

For example, this is the location where Cersei’s daughter Myrcella leaves for Dorne. Apparently when they were filming this, they had extras hold the boat to make sure it wouldn’t tip over. Locals thought this safety measure was hilariously unnecessary, as this part of the bay is maybe three feet high at its deepest point.

This staircase is where Cersei’s walk of shame was filmed in Season 5. We learned that it was difficult to find a body double for this scene, because the locals are largely Roman Catholic and squeamish about filmed nudity. The local church also had issues with GoT nudity (here and in many other scenes), but a large donation to the church from HBO was surprisingly compelling at curbing those complaints.

In addition to fun GoT tidbits, the tour also included stunning views of the city.

This balcony was used in the scene where Tyrion and Varys strategize together about the Battle of Blackwater Bay in Season 2. It also offers excellent views of Old Town (“King’s Landing”).

This fortress – Fort Lovrijenac – was the filming location for many of the Red Keep scenes. However, whenever the Red Keep is seen in the background of King’s Landing, it’s been added there with CGI (the fact that the Red Keep “isn’t real” has apparently upset the odd tourist). The location of the Red Keep within Old Town also jumps around from scene to scene, which is jarring to people who are familiar with the geography of Dubrovnik.

We couldn’t resist a couple of cheesy GoT photos. There is also a video of me walking down the Jesuit Stairs while Jelena rings a bell and says, ‘Shame, shame’.

Final tidbit to share: Dubrovnik locals also hated Season 8. Not just because it was terrible, but because it involved watching their city burn to the ground. In the words of our tour guide, “You understand that WE are King’s Landing.”

I’m grateful that in real life, King’s Landing still stands.