"Game of Thrones" fanatics should be able to identify some of Iceland's most spectacular locations. The views don't just look breathtaking, they will also remind fans of the land beyond The Wall where Jon Snow used to serve as a member of the Night's Watch.
Dmitry Bubonets, a Russian photographer and videographer, captured a drone footage that revealed the heart-stopping "Game of Thrones" locations in Iceland. Bubonets said of the Nordic island nation that the "landscape is not totally from this Earth," citing how it holds even more volcanoes than its total population. "And that moss is so green compared to the gloomy cloudy weather outside that you may think that everything is photoshopped," the 26-year-old told Lonely Planet.
The hit HBO series certainly pumped tourism in Iceland and boosted its number of annual tourists from 566,000 in 2011, when "Game of Thrones" first aired, to over a million in 2015. Jon Thor Benediktsson, a local guide for The Travelling Viking, told The Telegraph that the "Game of Thrones effect" raised their once-tiny company "to new heights" and that most tours navigate around the series' filming locations. He added that most of the tourists "come dressed for the occasion, in fake animal skins and furs - so they look like Jon Snow."
Benediktsson starts off his tours in Iceland's northern coast town of Akureyri and around Lake Mývatn, also known by "Game of Thrones" buffs as the land beyond The Wall. The itinerary features filming locations such as the frozen lava fields of Dimmuborgir, the Hveraströnd Sulphur Springs and the Grjótagjá cave where tourists most eagerly want to see because it's supposed to be where Jon Snow and Ygritte made love.
Iceland's "Game of Thrones" filming locations also include the Svínafellsjökull glacier for shots of scenes beyond The Wall and the Höfðabrekkuheiði as part of northern Westeros. Vatnajökull, the largest ice cap in Europe, featured in season two while the Thingvellir National Park witnessed the battle between Brienne and the Hound in season four.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
