Word of mouth

I have always held that the “word of mouth” is the best form of advertising. This notion has been confirmed once again last Friday when another satisfied Game of Thrones fan recommended our  tour to his friend that visited Dubrovnik as a part of 7-day coach tour through Croatia.

Thanks to Kelvin’s (whom I toured with only few days ago – he is the third one from the left) recommendation I managed to get in touch with his friend Dianna and arrange a customized tour for her . Dianna was, just as Kelvin, a die hard GOT fan, however the other two members of her party, her boyfriend Jack and her brother Lawrence, weren’t as enthusiastic in spending the time in the fictional capital of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, so the tour had to reconcile the facts with fiction. Since they have already had a formal introduction to Dubrovnik during their already scheduled morning tour and have also walked the City Walls of Dubrovnik, we opted to combine the visit to the island of Lokrum (AKA the magical town of Qarth, “the greatest city there was or ever will be”) and the Fortress of St Lawrence (AKA the Red Keep) as well as to include several other points of interest, more loosely related to the Game of Thrones. In the end the tour was designed as shorter version of King’s Landing + Qarth tour.

The first part of our tour was a bit rushed as we needed to catch the last boat for Lokrum island (April is considered as low season so the boat is still running on a limited schedule), but Dianna seems to have enjoyed it just the same (as it can be seen from her expression on the picture). Once we got to the island we took some time to “smell the roses”. The group was equally impressed with the impeccable choice for the HBO’s filming locations as much as with the island’s principal attractions (Benedictine Monastery/Hapsburg castle, Napoleonic Fortress, Botanical Gardens and the Dead Sea Lake). Both Dianna and the fellas loved hearing the stories and the legends about the island, but it seems that the biggest impact on them was witnessing the love life of the peacocks, who are now the only permanent inhabitants of this exotic island.

Upon our return to Dubrovnik, we toured around the new GOT locations from the upcoming season 5 before finishing the tour at one of the “must see” locations in Dubrovnik – the picturesque Buza bar, located at the cliffs right outside the Old Town walls on southern side.

I would like to thank Dianna, Jack and Lawrence for this wonderful day and Kelvin for hooking us up! Qarth images from the tour are available at the gallery below.