Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen in “Game of Thrones.” Photo: HBO
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* It takes less post-production tinkering than you’d expect to turn our world
into the lands of Ice (Iceland) and Fire (Morocco) *
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This article originally appeared on GlobalPost..
The Azure Window, Malta. Photo: Robert Pittman/Flickr Commons
Salon, by Jessica Phelan for GlobalPost (April 29, 2014) — Not much in “Game of Thrones” could be described as “true to life.” King Joffrey, for instance? IRL, actually a pretty sweet guy. And the Khaleesi definitely ain’t a natural blonde. (Oh yeah, and to the best of our knowledge she hasn’t fire-hatched any dragons, either.) Say what you will about the vaguely insane plot and ever more inventive ways of killing off characters, though, 
there’s one element of the show that’s surprisingly real: the locations. It turns out it takes less post-production tinkering than you’d expect to turn our world into the lands of Ice and Fire. Whether it’s the steep crags of Winterfell or the stone palaces of King’s Landing, the scorched slave port of Astapor or the frozen whiteness beyond the Wall, the show’s most dramatic landscapes really do exist — in five countries and on two continents. Hold on to your dragons, it’s time for a tour. [...]
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Morocco: Yunkai, Astapor
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Ait Benhaddou, Morocco. Photo: Stefan de Vries/Flickr Commons
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Season 3 finale breath-taking for viewers, fire-breathing for characters. InsideTV
The third season ventured to North Africa as the Khaleesi went on her travels in search of an army and those ever elusive ships. Producers selected two of Morocco’s most unique landscapes, Ait Benhaddou and Essaouira, to represent the fictional cities of Yunkai and Astapor respectively. Both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Ait Benhaddou for its red citadel on the foothills of the Atlas mountains, and Essaouira for its stone sea walls topped by bronze cannon. Ait Benhaddou has the added bonus of a nearby studio in the city of Ouarzazate, so popular is the area with directors (Laurence of Arabia, The Last Temptation of Christ, Alexander and Gladiator are among the many movies filmed there). It’s Essaouira’s turn as slave-trading Astapor, however, that remains most memorable to me at least, for reasons that anyone who’s seen the season 3 finale will immediately understand.
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Essaouira, Morocco. Photo: Mark Fischer/Flickr Commons
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Iceland: Beyond the Wall
If Morocco’s red plains bring the fire to ‘Game of Thrones,’ Iceland brings, er, the ice. The show’s makers quite logically headed north to shoot the part of the story that unfolds at the northernmost tip of Westeros, preferring Iceland’s otherworldly landscapes to anything CGI could produce. Vatnajökull National Park and the Svínafellsjökull glacier, both in the southwest, were picked for season 2, while most of season 3’s ultra-Wall action was filmed on and around frozen Lake Mývatn further north, littered with clumps of black lava from the active volcanos that dot the region. Season 4 moved on to Thingvellir National Park, a protected area of exceptional natural beauty and another UNESCO World Heritage site. Aptly enough for the Wildlings and their proto-democracy (sort of), Thingvellir’s plains are where Iceland’s parliament was first founded and continued to assemble, under the open sky, for almost nine centuries.
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On the shores of Lake Mývatn. Photo: Juergen Adolph/Flickr Commons
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[Continue Reading at Salon…]
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