I have never felt so uniformed about a city’s most popular attractions than the morning I arrived at the Dubrovnik Backpackers Club (http://www.dubackpackers.com/). Instead of pointing out the usual iconic sites and stunning vistas that most hotels, hostels and tourist information stands throughout the world send you to, such as the Louvre, the Big Ben, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and so forth, I was being shown where the filming of Game of Thrones takes place (http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones) . I could catch a glimpse on the wall of the old town, I was told enthusiastically, or at this park area about a ten-minute drive away. Other new arrivals entered the kitchen of the hostel and start quizzing me about my favourite characters and what I thought was going to happen. I was mute. How did I manage to become one of the few people on the planet who hadn’t been sucked deep into the world of Game of Thrones? I was blissfully ignorant, and hoped to stay that way – I really didn’t need to be sucked into another series.
Noticing the dazed and lost look on my face Milka – my host who runs the Dubrovnik Backpackers Club in her home with her family – pulled out a folder of tours her eldest son takes daily if enough people want to join. Immediately, an all-day boat and snorkelling trip out to the islands visiting the Green and Blue Caves, cliff/rock jumping for the adventurous, followed by a sandy island with a restaurant which serves fresh grilled fish, and finishing off the day with a game of beach handballseemed more my style and I advise all who visit Dubrovnik to get on board for an unforgettable day. Milka took my map with the scribbled arrows and bus routes to all the Game of Thrones sites and showed me how to get to the old town, to the beaches and the harbour and highlighted the best things to see at each – no doubt the things that were of interest before the phenomenon that is Game of Thrones moved to town. The two avid Game of Throne’s fans also signed up for the boat trip and then headed off to try to see the filming at the old town.
Lingering in the kitchen for a while longer, chatting with Milka I discovered that this is the very same place my brother had stayed five years earlier when Game of Thrones had not yet made residence in the city and when visitors were drawn to the city itself. This added to the very homely feel as Milka prepared an amazing all-you-can-eat breakfast (for a very modest price). Biting into my first mouth-watering piece of French toast, the room began to fill and new faces quickly became old friends with us all concocting a plan for how best to spend the day: beach then old town for a wander, lunch and a stroll back to our side of town that we calculated it should take no more than half an hour. It didn’t.
While my new friends nursed their hangovers for another hour, I ducked out to explore and take a quick dip in the sea before heading out on our adventure. Taking a wrong turn on a route that should have been a simple five-minute walk, I ended up lost in some scrub. Clearly the path I spotted was not a shortcut. I walked in circles for a good while until I ended up back on the road and the correct path down to the beach. I dived into the crystal water, and as I flipped over onto my back, I could see exactly why a show like Game of Thrones would want to set up here. The rocky outcrops of mountains and hills around Dubrovnik, which I had learnt on my morning’s walk are part of the city, contrasted starkly with the pristine blue waters and the almost fluorescent green vegetation. It is a gorgeous place. Losing track of time, I ran back up the hill and met up with my new friends whom all now had a bounce in their step, compared to the morning struggle through breakfast.
Dubrovnik’s Old Town has been photographed and displayed from every angle imaginable and not a single one does it justice. Inside the large ominous walls there are grand wide paths and squares and off these are narrow, windy streets where tourists can explore in the cool shade, and discover the hidden delights of life inside the walls. As we reached the outer walls, we entered a residential area, which was a sharp contrast to the tourist shops, ice-cream stands and restaurants we’d just left.
Soon we discovered most backpackers could be found at the bars on rocky outcrops on the outer side of the wall only accessed by the water or the narrow doorways through the thick outer wall of the city. After relaxing in the sun for a while, we headed back inside the wall for some lunch and hopefully the amazing seafood we had heard you could get from any restaurant. This advice however was false. We settled on a restaurant with fish tanks filled with live lobsters. It looked amazing. But when we received our meals we were thoroughly disappointed as the seafood was most definitely from a can. With squid ink stained teeth, I befriended a local stray kitten who didn’t seem to mind the canned mussels and, to our waiter’s dismay, it became an extra diner at our table.
As we set out on what we thought would be a quick walk home, we ran into the Game of Thrones crew and extras getting ready to film a scene for the next season. The Game of Throne fans in the group were beside themselves with excitement. So we sat on a wall and watched as the extras sweated and struggled in the heat, waiting for the crew to set up, whilst the main actors relaxed in their air-conditioned vans until required on set. Eventually the heat got too much for us as well and we decided to head off.
Back at the hostel I realised I still hadn’t seen even the slightest scene of Game of Thrones, keeping me safe from a new addiction. After all, travel is a large enough addiction on its own.