Winter Is Here.
To help prepare all my fellow thrones fans for the season 8 premier tonight, I figured now would be a perfect time to post about the Game of Thrones tour I went on while I was in Ireland in 2017! Though it’s much easier to appreciate if you are also fan, it’s definitely not a requirement. That applies to both the tour and my post.
Even if you’re not a fan, or have never got around to watching it (start right after you read this!), the tour guide takes you to dozens of places where the show was shot throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. So even if you don’t appreciate it for the show, you’re at least bound to love it for the scenery alone. (SPOILERS AHEAD) The tour for whoever is interested! ↓↓
Our tour bus picked us up in Dublin, and from there we headed north to Tollymore Forest. On the ride, our tour guide shows exactly what scenes we’re going to be seeing on the trip and what episodes they took place in the series. When we arrived at Tollymore Forest, we got to put on all kinds of Stark like cloaks and trek through the forest wearing them, feeling like a true northerner. The first stop he showed us was the very first scene in the episode 1, where Wills, a brother of the Nights Watch first discovers the white walkers have returned. The next stop in the forest, is the campfire where Jon and Tyrion sat and talked about being the bastard and reject of each of their families on the way to the wall in S1Ep2. Lastly, our final stop in the forest, was to the bridge and stream where Jon and the rest of the Starks first discover the dead dire wolf and her pups. Not only do I have a strong passion for traveling, but I absolutely love Game of Thrones as well. So being able to see all this, while walking in a full Stark cloak, had me smiling like an absolute idiot from ear to ear for no reason at all. I loved every second of it.
Our next stop was to get lunch at this place that has a specific room just for the tour group. The room was filled with the major family’s banners, and they even served drinks in specific style glasses (wine in a Tyrion style chalice, beer in a Stark wooden tankard, and cider in King Roberts horn.) After lunch, we got extremely lucky because they were able to bring along the two dogs who played Summer and Greywind (our tour guide said it’s usually a toss up if they can or not) to meet with us before our next stop. So, we got to pet and take pictures with them, and yes, they are just as big as you would imagine (just as cute too). Our next stop was to the Castle Ward Estate. Here, they filmed many of the early season Winterfell scenes. On the outskirts of the estate is a small little castle that was obviously blown up in size and was used as the castle for Walder Frey’s Twins. In the field below the castle was also used for many of the scenes that took place for Robb Starks campsite. While further down the road, our guide brought us to the exact tree used to hang the three tavern girls, that Brienne and Jaime eventually discovered while she was under strict orders to take him back to Kings Landing.
On our last stop, our guide took us to Cistercian Abbey, the exact spot where Robb Starks bannerman had declared him “King in the North” (here is the scene for reference, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTEn_nlHfnU ). One of the things that made this whole experience amazing and especially this last stop, was during the tour, our guide gave everyone a GoT quiz and whoever got the most questions right, got to pick which replica sword they wanted to carry around at the end and take pictures with. Which I’m proud to say I got third out of like thirty people (my GoT nerdiness kicking in), so while Longclaw and Needle went first and second, I still got to choose Robb’s sword and got to take pictures with it while dressed in full Stark cloak. However, there was no chance I was gonna leave without getting a picture with Longclaw, so I convinced the guy to let me do just that before we left. We finished up the ride home with a few episodes of GoT, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
