Name the biggest star of Game Of Thrones. Sean Bean, you might think. He’s in lots of films. Or you’ll take it more literally and go for Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the man-giant that plays the Mountain. But there’s an answer even bigger than him, that’s shown in every episode.
The biggest star of Game Of Thrones? The Northern Irish coastline. It’s in every episode - the best any human actor can manage is Peter Dinklage, who’s been in 61 of the 67 broadcast episodes. The Northern Irish coastline is officially better than Peter Dinklage.
All the locations they use in Thrones are great really, from Dubrovnik standing in as King’s Landing to Iceland’s Grjótagjá cave making the perfect spot for Jon and Ygritte to break some vows.
German travel enthusiast and excellent Instagrammer Andrea David spends her life travelling the globe, matching up real-life locations with their on-screen counterparts. She’s amassed an impressive 86,000 followers while having what seems to be a pretty great time, travelling everywhere and “scene-placing”, holding screenshots up and lining them up with the environment.
Northern Ireland's got it all, you see - castles...
Forests...
Spooky hedges...
And cliffs.
Plus bonus little river things
And caves perfect to birth a smoke monster in.
Plus saying "The Iron Islands are in Northern Ireland" in a Northern Irish accent is a lot of fun.
Sometimes Northern Ireland won't cut it snow-wise, so you need to head to Iceland.
Most King's Landing scenes are filmed in Dubrovnik...
Although turn a corner to the Red Keep and you're 18km away in the Trsteno Arboretum.
Malta sometimes helps out and doubles for Kings Landing...
As well as Pantos...
While Girona in Spain provides the Citadel...
Parts of Braavos...
And the Sept of Baelor.
Andrea isn’t just into Thrones. She’s visited locations from The Walking Dead, the Twilight saga, Rambo, Star Wars and loads more. Globe-trotting cinephile seems like a pretty great lifestyle, but Northern Ireland definitely wins.
