Game of Thrones - Filming Locations Tour!

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I had talked about wanting to go to Northern Ireland ever since I went down a rabbit hole of pictures from the incredible filming locations they used for Game of Thrones. I had seen a site on the internet for tours that left from Dublin and Belfast and took you through some of these places. I became mildly obsessed with the idea, as I tend to do. My adoration for Kit Harington and my annoying self-given nickname of KhaLisa proved that my inappropriate love for Game of Thrones was going to have me making some ridiculous decisions. The first? Northern Ireland. Once I found out that going to Winterfell was something I could actually do, I HAD to do it. There was no other choice..

I planned my trip to Ireland , convinced my mom to come with me, and the next thing I knew, 12 days later we arrived in Dublin.

That night I slept like a rock and woke up the minute a tiny beam of sunlight peeked in the window. We had to be on the tour at 7:45am and I was at the door with my map in my hand and 3 different cameras ready. Sadly, that little beam of sunlight that woke me up was the only one we would see all day… but a little bit of rain won’t keep me from meeting the actual direwolf pups!!

We met the rest of the group outside of the Hilton Garden Inn in Dublin and hopped on the bus. Because of the nature of the show, the tour wouldn’t allow anyone under the age of 18. I was glad not to have a bunch of kids tagging along. Also I would seriously question any parent that allowed their young child to watch this show in the first place. 

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Our first stop was Tollymore Forest. It was a 2 mile walk through the park, which was used for a ton of scenes in Game of Thrones, most notably the pit where Wills finds the Wildlings in the very first episode of the show.

We stopped at the place where Tyrion and Jon Snow had acampfire on their way to the Wall. I sat on a stump that Jon Snow sat on and snapchatted something stupid about how since I was sitting there we were basically engaged, and then we moved on.

We stopped by the river where the direwolf pups were originally discovered by the Starks and then we had lunch at the Lobster Pot in Strangford where they had two of them (Odin and Thor, actually Northern Inuit dogs) that we could meet. They were known on the show as Summer and Grey Wind, belonging to Bran and Robb Stark. They obviously weren’t pups anymore. The grown direwolves are all CGI, so these were the only real dogs used in the show.

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Next was Winterfell. I obviously hyperventilated like 9 times during this part of the tour.I was the annoying one being like “Mom! Wait. Take a picture of me over here. Here too. And here. Take 4 here.” The location is Castle Ward, and honestly, it doesn’t really look that much like what you see on the show. So much is added using computers so you definitely have to use your imagination. I still freaked out. 

Game of Thrones Tour

Next we stopped at a small castle which was used as one of Walder Frey’s "Twins." In the show there are two, connected by a massive bridge. In reality, just one.. and no bridge. It was also used as Robb’s Camp in the Riverlands.

When we stopped in Inch Abbey, from the scene where Robb Stark was declared King in the North, it was the first time the rain stopped all day. We finally got to put on the cloaks!! Yesss. Haha. I had been so bummed out all day that we hadn't been able to wear them.

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After this I decided I was going to go to EVERY LOCATION that they used to film the show. I have since adopted new travel goals, but I would still love to check out some other ones sometime. Spain? Croatia? Malta? Yes please. :)

Xx

Lis