Game of Thrones has a long history of inspiring tourism; the show shot all over the world, so there are lots of locations to visit, whether it’s the Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland (the Kingsroad) or the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, which often stood in for King’s Landing.
There are a number of places in Spain that featured as Game of Thrones over the course of the show, and that tradition is continuing with the prequel series House of the Dragon. In the second episode of the first season, HBO filmed several scenes in the beautiful gardens of Santa Clotilde in the seaside town of Iloret de Mar, in the northeastern Catalonia region of the country. This is where King Viserys met with the young Laena Velaryon, met with her parents Corlys Velaryon and Rhaenys Targaryen, and where Rhaenys and Rhaenyra Targaryen talked about the difficulties Rhaenyra would face in trying to become queen.
Now, the city of Lloet de Mar has teamed up with Amargura Cultura to rechristen the gardens of Santa Clotilde as the Gardens of the Dragon, and to offer tours of the grounds. Tours are offered in Spanish and Catalan every Friday of this month. In August they will be held in English. You can get tickets here!
The Gardens of the Dragon are open to tour for House of the Dragon fans
Representatives from Spanish-language Game of Thrones fansite Los Siete Reinos were lucky enough to go on this tour and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There’s no need for special to make you believe that you’re walking n the gardens of King’s Landing.
What’s more, Iloret de Mar isn’t far from the Castell de Santa Florentina, which doubled as the castle of Horn Hill in the sixth season of Game of Thrones. It’s also near the city of Girona, which stood in for both Braavos and King’s Landing at various points in the series. If you’re so inclined, you could make a whole Game of Thrones tour out of this!
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