Benny Charles
Sep 8, 2018 · 8 min read

Over the Hill, Part Ninety; The Journey To King’s Landing

Waking up, we reluctantly packed all our belongings, and said goodbye to our tiny little apartment, and to Split, which had been a fun town to visit. The most picturesque way to travel to Dubrovnik, which is south of Split, is via ferry, but it’s also very expensive so we’d decided to travel by bus instead. It was a long trip, but picturesque as wound our way down the Croatian coast. Now Dubrovnik is part of Croatia, but it’s actually separated from the rest of the country by a small slice of Bosnia (a remnant of the Ottoman Empire and their occupation of the region), so in order to get to Dubrovnik you have to cross the border into Bosnia, before going back into Dubrovnik, which involves the bus driver collecting everyone’s passports for the customs officials to stamp. When the long, hot, bus ride concluded we found ourselves at the bus terminal in Dubrovnik, which is on the outskirts of the city. The only way (apart from a taxi) to get to our apartment was to catch the local bus, which was a nightmarish experience as it was crowded, there was nowhere to put our bags (so they were constantly in everyone’s way), and it was oppressively hot.

After spilling out of the bus, we found ourselves at the Pile Gate, which is the entrance to the old town of Dubrovnik. Our Airbnb apartment was on the other side of the old town, so we set off, pulling our suitcases behind us. As we travelled it was almost like stepping back in time to an ancient empire (or Kings Landing from Game of Thrones), such was the awe inspiring sight before us. We took in all we could (including the insane amount of people around), before finding the Airbnb apartment where we’d be staying for the next week. It was a cute little apartment, and we took it easy the rest of the night, discovering that the cable box had the German language version of Nickelodeon, which meant that it had the German version of Spongebob Squarepants; Spongebob Schwammkopf. Watching the intro in German was an absolute hoot, and definitely the highlight of the night.

We woke up early the next day, as we were going on a a big Game of Thrones tour. They picked us up outside our apartment, and we travelled outside of Dubrovnik to the Arboretum Trsteno, a botanical garden of exotic plants that was created by nobles in the 15th Century. As we walked around it was hard to ignore the quiet beauty of the gardens with lots of stone, a pond in the centre (complete with fish), and a massive variety of plants. A number of scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed in the garden, which was really cool to see.

At the bottom of the garden is an property that has a mansion and a small pier. That pier was used for the scene where Bronn tries to teach Jaime to fight with his left hand, which was a cool little surprise (for obvious reasons, they couldn’t put it in the brochure).

From there we went back to the old town, but bypassed it and went up a very large (and very steep) hill that rises up behind Dubrovnik. Our driver displayed some impressive skills as he went up a road that only fits one car, but is still oddly a two way street. At the top of the hill, past a small village, we stop and he points out the road that we’re on, telling us that it was used for a few scenes on the Kings Road, showing us some photos so we can visualise it. Apparently they had to block off all the cars, and scatter dirt over the road to make it look a little bit more medieval. Nearby were some shot up bunkers, hiding in the brush; a remnant from the war of independence in the early nineties.

We jumped back in the car, and after negotiating a few cars coming in the other direction we found ourselves at a rocky outcrop very close to where the cable car takes tourists for a view of Dubrovnik. Our view from this long piece of stone was absolutely gobsmacking; Dubrovnik is just below, clear as day, as is the Adriatic sea, and the forests and hills that surround the city. It was just breathtaking, the air so clear that you can see the border of Bosnia on the other side! If we’d taken the cable car (which we’d originally been planning to), it would have cost us a lot of money (it’s one of the more expensive things to do in Dubrovnik), but we got to do it for free as part of the tour! Fist pump.

Travelling down, we get stuck in some horrific traffic, a byproduct of the way the city is laid out, with traffic forced to go around the old town on one lane streets. Exacerbating this is the traffic caused by the giant cruise ships that regularly roll through Dubrovnik, as every time they dump their passengers into the city all the traffic slows to a crawl. Eventually we arrive at St James Beach, and our guide points out a small but very expensive hotel across the bay where a scene from Game of Thrones was filmed.

That’s not why we’re here though. We travel past the entrance to the beach, and causally trespass onto private property; a large abandoned hotel that is currently owned by a Russian billionaire, who wants to turn it into a six star hotel. The buildings are seriously dilapidated, and we quickly make our way down some dodgy steps to a small area next to the water. Our guide explains that the area is used to hold indoor soccer games, and also holds underground raves, which you can imagine as there is amphitheatre seating around a semi-circle that ends at the water. The guide asks us if it looks familiar, and suddenly it clicks. Its the arena where Oberyn Martell and the Mountain fight at the end of Season Four! Holy crap. Alex and I have nerd-gasms, as the guide explains that because it’s on private property, they can’t put it on the tour web site, and that once they start work on the new hotel the site will cease to exist. We have a good walk around, admiring the entire site; it has a soccer logo in the centre, but you can still see the Lannister logo, faded around the edges, and if you ignore the graffiti and adds some cushions you feel like you’re really in King’s Landing! It was only with great reluctance that we took our leave, buzzing from the experience.

Getting back in the van, we travel back to the old town, deal with more terrible traffic, and eventually get deposited at the Pile Gate for the second part of our tour, which is with a different guide. Our first stop is St Lawrence’s Fortress, which was used for some of the interiors of the Red Keep in Game of Thrones. It’s history is a little hazy, but it was built by the citizens of the town to keep out invaders, possibly as early as the 11th Century. Getting up there involves going up a lot of steps, but once there we get a double gift, as apart from the history with Game of Thrones, it’s an interesting fortress in its own right, with some amazing views of the old town and the Adriatic Sea. Heading back down, we arrived at a pier that lies on a small bay in between the old town and St Lawrence’s Fortress, where a couple more scenes were filmed.

From there it was time to enter the old town itself, and we went through the Pile Gate (which was used in the show) and go for a long walk, seeing sights such as Little Finger’s brothel, the parts of the city where Cersei’s walk of shame was filmed, plus a few other little scenes. It was interesting, but not as fascinating as the city itself, which is truly beautiful. The guide produces some replica swords, and I will admit that it was fun to hold Jon Snow’s sword! After that the tour concluded, and I have to say that it was a lot of fun. Not only was it great as a fan of Game of Thrones, but the locations themselves were stunning as well, and Alex and I vowed to come back and explore the city more throughly over the coming days.

After getting home we collapsed and had a long rest; it had been really, really hot, and it’s quite draining, especially when you’re out all day. To compensate we had a lighter plan planned for the next day; to explore the city walls of Dubrovnik.

Benny Charles

Written by

Traveller, Writer, and lover of Yoshis

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