Unlike my long-suffering travel companion, as far as books are concerned, I am not a big fan of fantasy fiction. I have yet to pin down exactly why.
I have read most of the Harry Potter series and even started JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. As well written as some of these books are, somewhere around the middle of the very first chapter I lose interest. Happens like clockwork.
Instead, I have succumbed to the hype and resorted to watching the book rather than reading it. Roll Game of Thrones footage.
The wildly popular HBO series Game of Thrones is the televised adaptation of the first book in George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire collection. All the hallmarks typical of the genre are present: warring kingdoms vying for supremacy, back-stabbing, tenuous alliances, intrigue, dragons, marriages of convenience, murder, magic, suicide, whores, bastard children, a unifying threat from beyond.
Aside from the impeccable acting of the predominately British cast and the well-crafted screenplay, what stood out most to the traveler in me were the spectacular filming locations.
The capital city of the former Yugoslavian state of Croatia, Dubrovnik, was the sight of King’s Landing.
The Grjótagjá Lava Cave in Iceland served as the backdrop for a steamy love scene between Jon Snow and the red-haired wildling Ygritte.
Dragonstone Beach, where the Burning of the Seven took place and where the Queen of Dragons convalesced, was filmed on the coast of Basque country in Spain.
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