„Winter is coming.“

(quote from Game of Thrones)

20th of May in 2018:

Our awaited ‚Game of Thrones‘ (GoT) tour took place today. This Sunday started early, but fortune wasn’t with us. First of all, I was exhausted. Second Son and I left the house quite early, but Google Maps or the GPS from my phone had some errors. My ’smartphone‘, which was stupid this time, navigated us to the wrong location. We had to run to the bus, which was exhausting. By the way, Son doesn’t have mobile data so he couldn’t help. Ten mins too late, we arrived the bus. Robert also joined this tour, cause he is such a huge fan of this series.
Beforehand, the page, where Robert booked the tickets, offered three tours, which started from Belfast. We took the ‚Belfast Winterfell Locations Trek‘ because the other locations like Giant’s Causeway or Rope Bridge are already known to us. The price was about £50 for adults and with student cards £45. I know it is quite expensive, but it sounds good to me, to have the opportunity to see film locations of the world famous TV series GoT if you have the chance to be in Belfast. Game of Thrones based on the novel series written by George R.R. Martin ‚A song of Ice and Fire‘. HBO, an American television network, produced the TV series and its debut was in 2011.
The tour guide, whose name is Thorn, welcomed us and wasn’t mad about our delay. After us, two other attendance arrived the bus and, it began his journey.
Since the second season of GoT, Thorn has been a background actor but I know that’s total wrong *I don’t remember the word anymore* and did such a great job. He told us a lot about the background stories, background information and also directors and movie making knowledge. His English was very understandable however I couldn’t record and memorise everything he said.
The first stop we passed, was at Titanic Museum. HBO did the most indoor screening in a building behind the museum. Next, we took the ferry, which departed from Portaferry to Strangford. The first visiting point was Castle Ward Estate (Winterfell). Winterfell consists of many filming locations, which are close together. This tower was edited, copied and pasted lots of time into the background. Then we did a 3 km walk around that location. The scenery was beautiful.
At noon we had the opportunity to have lunch at ‚The Cuan‘, a pub in the village in the port of Strangford. Robert, Son and I took food with ourselves and had it on a small bench. The weather was cloudy, and it didn’t rain. Such luck. After lunch, we had a huge fortune because we saw the ‚Dire Wolves‘. In original, they are two huge huskies. One of them had two different eye colours. The dog owners (the father and the sons) were also part of the actors of GoT. He told us about how his family and himself became part of the GoT world. It was quite interesting.
Inch Abbey (King of the North) was the next stop but also the best of the whole tour. We were allowed to become part of this epic fantasy world for 1 hour because the trunk of the coach consisted Northern cloaks, Stark shields, helms and swords and even banners. Inch Abbey is a ruin of a Cistercian Abbey of the 12th century. A lot of photos arose and it such a marvellous experience to be a warrior for ten minutes.
Our last location, which was also the beginning of the TV series, was Tollymore Forest including a three km walk.
At each location, we visited, he stopped and showed us some slides of Game of throne scenes so you may trust him that he doesn’t take you to some random locations.
It was a shame that I didn’t watch ‚Game of Thrones‘ it yet, that’s why I can’t describe and explain much about the series. But don’t worry, Robert wrote an excellent article, where he did a quite good job and told a lot about this day. With his permission, I was allowed to refer to his entry and blog (Thank you, Robert) : Robert’s blog
On our way back to Belfast City centre, we could watch the first episode of the first season. Unfortunately, I slept because I often become dizzy in a bus. After a nine-hour tour, I have to say it was worth to do this tour. When I am back in Germany, I am going to read the books and also watch the TV series of GoT. I am looking forward to it to be back in Germany. At 6 p.m. we arrived at Belfast City hall and our ways separated.
In the evening Tim cooked ‚Brauhaus-Gulasch‘, which contained beer. I was kind of shocked after hearing it. But it was my first goulash, which I’ve ever had in my life. It was fantastic 😀 but not that spicy as the Chilli con Carne.
Jenny bought a cheesecake at Tesco Metro and served them for dinner. Dome said that he could make a better cheesecake than Tesco Metro. (I think, the king can’t be modest sometimes ^^‘) We took his word seriously, now he has to accept our challenge and has time to bake us a cheesecake, which has to suit our taste until Friday. The judges consist of Jenny, Phi, Tim and I, who won’t be friendly but hardly strict. Unfortunately, Dome has to earn at least 24 points, or he has to buy us the same cheesecake we had today *grin*. We will value the following criteria: taste, appearance, consistency of the pastry, theme and creativity. For each criterion, he can earn at least zero to ten points.
All in all, it was an enjoyable day and worth to pay these 50 pounds.